Remember last week when I said I wanted to post something pithy about the passage of time and so on. Well, I don't know how pithy this will be but here are some thoughts that I keep having about the passage of time.
I'm having difficulty understanding how quickly time goes by. Do you remember being nine years old and waiting for Christmas to come? I mean it felt like it would never get here. Days upon days, weeks upon weeks....trying to be good, pestering your mother with your wish list, writing to Santa at least three times. Now I look at the calendar and think, "Oh my goodness, Christmas is only sixth months away!"
My father-in-law has a theory about this phenomenon. When you are five a year of your life is only one-fifth of your life. So say you are looking at your life in terms of a pie (I prefer mine to be peach pie thankyou) one-fifth of your life is a pretty big chunk of pie.
Now say you are, oh, forty-three (yeah, that would be me) that pie is now in 43 smaller slices of that same pie and the older you get the smaller the slices get and the faster the years go.
Scary, huh?
The other difficulty that I'm having with this whole time thing is that stuff starts changing. Stuff I don't want to change. Most specifically parents start showing their age. In my mind my Mom and Dad are still young and busy with life. And in many ways they still are. However, my father informed me that he turned 70 this year.
Huh? Well if he's seventy that means I'm....well anyway. My Dad also told me that he made me executor of their living trust (gulp) and that he's looking forward to when my Mom gets to retire. (Retire? Y'all are doing what? Retiring? That's for old people!)
I'm trying to be gracious about this whole time thing and aging and all that but I have to tell you it is a little mind-boggling. I am appreciating more and more passages from the Bible that refer to our lives as being "but a vapor" and that our days are pre-ordained. And I'm thankful that this is not the only life I will live.
This life that I'm living right now is just the beginning, the proving ground for eternal life. Things here are a mixed bag of joy, sadness, elation, pain, happiness and sorrow and as I'm told in Romans 5:3-5, "And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us."
My God is busy molding me and shaping me into His image and whether I view that time as short or long or both it is, in the end, His perfect time.
5 comments:
Well, it's Wednesday and here I am! It's 11:21pm by my clock so I just barely made it!
I like what your dad said about time in relation to pieces of pie.
(Oh, and I believe I would like mine to be blackberry topped with icecream. :)
At my age, being in your forties is very, very young but I think it is good to redeem the time at any age. And,yes, changes are difficult. I watched my mother become old and feeble and memory began to fail. I will be 77 in September. When I look at that it REALLY looks old but I don't feel old inside of me. Kinda like the poem. "I'm not getting old, it's the house I'm living in that's getting old."
And you are right about time being in God's hands. That's good to know!
See you next Wednesday, the Lord willing!
mary
Make mine Key Lime please. My DD just turned 13 and my son is 19 and me and my DH just celebrated our 26 anniversary. All that seems to have just happened.
I remember those sweet little toddler kisses and trying to learn how to be a wife.
Now my DD is morphing into a teenage before my very eyes and we don't even want to go there with the DS, but time just floats by each day.
Isn't it wonderful that God is the same today, tomorrow and forever.
PR 16:31 Gray hair is a crown of splendor;
it is attained by a righteous life.
I'm working on my crown of gray!
Great post, Cyndy,
I think about aging all the time. In fact, just this morning I was wondering how old I will have to get before I'll start giving myself some slack in my appearance. I've always been vain. I know it. I confess it. I regret it. But the truth remains that I keep thinking I should look like I did in my mid-twenties or even thirties. And of course I don't. I'm 61 and finally this morning I think it is sinking in that I can't be 60 and look 20 or 30 or even 40 or 50. I'm 61 years old and I look 61 years old. So what's the crime? This is an area in my life where the Lord and I are still battling it out, but I think He scored a few extra points this morning. I've decided it's okay if I don't have a 26 inch waist (I have that times 2 probably). Seems like I was just hoping summer would get here and already it seems like Christmas will be here before I know it. Every morning I get up expecting to see the colors of fall in the trees. Time goes by so fast anymore. And the more we want to slow it down, the faster it goes. I like your dad's explanation. Made perfect sense!! Keep writing. I love your blog.
Blessings
Marj
http://gdlvr.blogspot.com
Cyndy,
Were you in Mr. Wellerton's(sp?)English class freshman year when we did a skit about Literature to the "Fly Like An Eagle Soundtrack"? We started with Homer's The Iliad and then kept getting in our "time capsule" (cardboard box) and advancing years ahead to differnt authors and periods in literature to this tune. I was just reminicising about this to my kids the other day, they hadn't heard the song...talk about aging! Ha!
I remember David W. was in my group, not sure if you were.
Yes, I do read your blog once and awhile and love hearing about your life.
Good for you turning into a pseudo "farm-girl". Where were we when my dad was into all of that? Julia has been all into horses for about 4 years, I had little interst, though I had the room to put them...go figure!
Love to you and your family, keep up the ministry. You are a gifted writer and a friend forever.
"Crumbles"
Crumbles!!!
Errr...don't think that was his
name, Mr. Wellerton that is, but without going and getting my yearbook I can't remember what it was! ;D
...but I do know who you are talking about...worse yet...I hate to break it to you but that was our junior year.
I don't think I was in your group because I have a vague memory of a news report about the Bronte sisters and Jane Austen.
Anyway! Thank you for stopping by!
{{{hugs}}} to you and yours, Cyndy
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