Tick Tock, You Just Can't Stop The Clock

I saw this quote a couple days back and while it's a bit of a mind bender, it's true. Time is the most undefinable yet paradoxical of things; the past is gone, the future is not come, and the present becomes the past even while we attempt to define it, and, like the flash of lightning, at once exists and expires. ~Charles Caleb Colton.

I've had a lot of thoughts about time in my head lately. I've been organizing pictures trying to make order of them. So many memories contained in a little square I can hold in my hand.

The change of the seasons reminds me of the tick-tock of time. The last time I had a conversation with my dad was May 21, spring was well on its way. Then he told me about his cancer diagnosis on the phone the first part of June and June 18, he suffered the blood clots, just as we were starting summer. He passed away on July 1 with the funeral on July 6, the 4th of July holiday sandwiched in between - the height of the summer season. Now it's fall, the weather is starting to feel different, football season is well on its way. Sometimes I want to put my hands over my ears and scream "CAN IT ALL STOP FOR JUST A MINUTE?" Each season change feels like it takes me one more step away from my life with my dad.

Last Sunday, we started a new theme in church about time, which just makes me smile because so often I have something in my head and then God gives me more opportunities to gain new insights into something.

As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear him and his righteousness with their children's children. (Psalm 103:14-6) (Once again lessons from the hillside. The wildflowers flourish for a time, but soon they will be gone.)

One of Jay's points was "Delight shows up in time usage." I like that. He also said "There are more negative journeys than positive ones." Postive choices are intentional. So it has to be my goal to make live a certain way of life, who can I bless today? My time can be spent finding delight in God.

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or site in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. (Psalm 1:1-3)

In "Fiddler on the Roof" as Tevye is thinking about his daughters' desire to marry men they have chosen, he sees them from a distance and sort of fuzzy. So still looking back over my shoulder to look at my dad, it feels like he is standing still while time keeps me moving forward. No, I can't stop time, fall will turn to winter, and winter once again to spring, but like my dad, my desire is to intentially spend my time living "The God Way of Life."

Love God, Love Others,