The Time Crunch of the Ages

I hope you won't think less of me when I confess that Christmas often leaves me with a sense of melancholy that no amount of gingerbread or carolling can diffuse. Don't get me wrong—I love the season and all the blessings that come with it, but for some reason, this holiday more than any other never ceases to remind me of the blinding speed of time. Time, that precious resource that seems so abundant as sparkly-eyed kids, but also seems to flow faster the further we travel through life.

Admittedly, I'm prone to philosophizing and I'm not above indulging in a little nostalgia. But lately I've realized that I've got it backward, and for a girl as immutably Peter Pan-coded as I am, that's no small feat.

Because here's the thing. Much as we might sometimes like to forget how limited our time on this earth is, maybe we were never supposed to. Maybe there's a beautiful reason for the marks years leave on our faces and hearts and memories and skin and dreams. If we were just here to float through life, ride the current and get off, we might not need the reminder. But the fact is that we're not just here to coast. We've got a job to do, and I don't know about you, but I work better on a time crunch.

The way I see it, we can look at time as an enemy—something to fear and fight—or as the galvanizer that stirs us to action and boldness. It's a choice. Passivity or purpose, denial or "challenge accepted." I think King David said it best when he prayed:

"So teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom." Ps. 90:12.

David understood that the unstoppable flow of time was a gift from the Lord, a reminder of our finiteness and the value of eternity, a reminder of our need for God, who holds that eternity in His hand. To David, keeping the fleetingness of life in mind was one of the keys to wisdom, the kind of wisdom that comes from knowing what we're here for and doing it wholeheartedly.

So what are we here for? Let's let David reprise himself, shall we?

"I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord." Ps. 118:17

Note that David is predicting divine deliverance here, not claiming to be immortal. But what I love about this verse is the way life and glorifying God are inextricably connected for him. To live is to tell of what God has done. For David, that meant proclaiming God's work in Israel and in his own life. But for us?

Well. For us, it's so much more.

Jesus gave us a job to do: go and share the good news of what he's done, the astronomical price he paid to ransom me, you, all of us from the eternity of darkness we were bound for. Recounting the deeds of the Lord, sharing that good news—THAT is life. And if that life is limited, all the more reason to get to work.

Not working against time, but with it, knowing our eternity is already bought and paid for, and inspired to invite as many others into that bright eternity as we can.

Time is a friend, not a foe. A rallying weapon, not a weakness. May we learn to joyfully number our days and launch forward into a year of bold strokes for the King who calls us His.