2003? Didn’t we just flip the calendar to the year 2000? We all can have a sense of near-panic when we realize time is speeding by and we have only so many years left. Maybe not as many as we think. We’d better get moving. We’d better find those jobs that will give us financial freedom by forty-five. We’d better make sure our rrsp’s are doing their job. And what about all those dreams of accomplishing something worthwhile?
Panic happens as reality sinks in. Life and time have somehow gone by while you were standing still. Or were you? As the future seems to be racing toward you, perhaps it would be a good time to take a look over your shoulder. Take a look at the years that have gone by, with all their joys and sorrows. What has been important in the past? Has it been the money in the bank accounts, or lack of it? The brief vacations on sunny beaches or lack of them? Has it been the gifts you received at Christmas or the bonuses you got or didn’t get? Look back for a moment. What has been really important?
Now think in terms of eternity. That’s a hard thing for us to do. We are tied to time. We mark it scrupulously with calendars and clocks. We see it in the faces of our children as they change and especially in the faces our elders as they wrinkle and grow old. It’s hard for us to realize this span of time we have in this reality, is barely a nano-second compared to eternity. And we will be there. Some day we will be outside of time as we know it. What will be important then?
A very wise man named Solomon once wrote – “He (God) has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11-13)
“What God has done.” Have you ever looked at your life that way? When you looked over your shoulder a moment ago, did you see what God had done? Some day we will see it all and we will know what God has done and is doing and will do. We will know these are the only things that are important. It’s not about us. It’s all about Him. So be content, be happy and do good while you live. And praise God. He’s in control.