MAN
is deeply conscious of the passing of time. With each tick of the
clock, he progresses a step farther down time’s corridor. He is wise,
indeed, if he makes proper use of his time. As King Solomon wrote: “For
everything there is an appointed time, even a time for every affair
under the heavens: a time for birth and a time to die; a time to plant
and a time to uproot what was planted; a time to kill and a time to
heal; a time to break down and a time to build; a time to weep and a
time to laugh.” (Eccl. 3:1-4) How fleeting is time! The 70 years of the
normal life span is far too short a time for a person to take in the
abundance of knowledge and to enjoy all the other good things Jehovah
(YHWH) has provided for man on this earth. “Everything he has made
pretty in its time. Even time indefinite he has put in their heart, that
mankind may never find out the work that the true God has made from the
start to the finish.”—Eccl. 3:11; Ps. 90:10.
Jehovah
(YHWH) himself lives in an eternity of time. As for his creatures, it
has pleased him to set them in the stream of time. The angels of heaven,
including even the rebellious Satan, are fully aware of the passage of
time. (Dan. 10:13; Rev. 12:12) Of mankind it is written, “Time and
unforeseen occurrence befall them all.” (Eccl. 9:11) Happy is the man
who at all times includes God in his thoughts and who welcomes God’s
provision of “food at the proper time”!—Matt. 24:45.
Time Is One-Directional:
Though time is universal, no man living is able to say what it is. It
is as unfathomable as space. No one can explain where the stream of time
began or where it is flowing. These things belong to the limitless
knowledge of God almighty (YHWH), who is described as being God “from
time indefinite to time indefinite.”—Ps. 90:2.
On
the other hand, time has certain characteristics that can be
understood. Its apparent rate of flow can be measured. Additionally, it
moves in one direction only. Like traffic on a one-way street, time
moves relentlessly in that one direction—onward, ever onward. Whatever
the speed of its forward movement, time can never be thrown into
reverse. We live in a momentary present. However, this present is in
motion, flowing continually into the past. There is no stopping it.
The Past:
The past is gone, it is history, and it can never be repeated. Any
attempt to call back the past is as impossible as trying to make a
waterfall tumble uphill or an arrow fly back to the bow that shot it.
Our mistakes have left their mark in the stream of time, a mark that
only God (YHWH) can wipe out. (Isa. 43:25) In like manner, a man’s good
deeds in the past have made a record that “will come back to him” with
blessing from God almighty (YHWH). (Prov. 12:14; 13:22) The past has
been won or lost. No longer is there any control over it. Of the wicked
it is written: “For like grass they will speedily wither, and like green
new grass they will fade away.”—Ps. 37:2.
The Future:
The future is different. It is always flowing toward us. By the help of
God’s Word, we can identify obstacles that loom ahead of us and prepare
to meet them. We can store up for ourselves “treasures in heaven.”
(Matt. 6:20) These treasures will not be swept away by the stream of
time. They will stay with us and will endure into an eternal future of
blessing. We are interested in the wise use of time, as it affects that
future.—Eph. 5:15, 16.
Time Indicators:
Our modern-day watches and clocks are time indicators. They serve as
rulers for measuring time. In similar manner God (YHWH), the Creator,
has set in motion giant time indicators—the earth spinning on its axis,
the moon revolving around the earth, and the sun—so that from his
standpoint on earth, man may be accurately advised of the time. “And God
went on to say: ‘Let luminaries come to be in the expanse of the
heavens to make a division between the day and the night; and they must
serve as signs and for seasons and for days and years.’” (Gen. 1:14)
Thus, as a multitude of objects with interlocking purposes, these
heavenly bodies move in their perfect cycles, unendingly and unerringly
measuring the one-directional movement of time.
How Time Moves Faster:
There is an old saying that “a watched kettle never boils.” It is true
that when we are watching time, when we are conscious of it, when we are
waiting for something to happen, then it seems to pass ever so slowly.
However, if we are busy, if we are interested in and preoccupied with
what we are doing, then it really appears that “time flies.” Moreover,
with older people time seems to pass much more quickly than with young
children. Why is this? One year added to the life of a one-year-old
means a 100-percent increase in life’s experiences. One year added to
the life of a 50-year-old means just 2 percent more. To the child, a
year seems a long, long time.
The older person, if busy and in good
health, finds that the years seem to fly faster and faster. He comes to a
deeper understanding of Solomon’s words: “There is nothing new under
the sun.” On the other hand, young people still have the seemingly
slower, formative years with them. Instead of “striving after wind” with
a materialistic world, they may use these years profitably in piling up
a wealth of godly experience. Timely are Solomon’s further words:
“Remember, now, your Grand Creator in the days of your young manhood,
before the calamitous days proceed to come, or the years have arrived
when you will say: ‘I have no delight in them.’”—Eccl. 1:9, 14; 12:1.
Time-When People Live Forever:
However, there are joyous days ahead that will be far from calamitous.
Lovers of righteousness, whose ‘times are in God's (YHWH) hand,’ may
look forward to everlasting life in the realm of God’s Kingdom. (Ps.
31:14-16; Matt. 25:34, 46) Under the Kingdom, death will be no more.
(Rev. 21:4) Idleness, illness, boredom, and vanity will have vanished.
There will be work to do, absorbing and intriguing, calling for
expression of man’s perfect abilities and bringing intense satisfaction
in accomplishment. The years will seem to flow faster and faster, and
appreciative and retentive minds will be continually enriched with
memories of happy events. As millenniums pass, humans on this earth will
no doubt come to appreciate more fully God almighty (YHWH) view of
time: ‘For a thousand years in God's (YHWH) eyes are but as yesterday
when it is past.’—Ps. 90:4.
Viewing
the stream of time from our present human standpoint and taking into
account God’s promise of a new world of righteousness, how joyous in
prospect are the blessings of that day: “For there Jehovah (YHWH)
commanded the blessing to be, even life to time indefinite”!—Ps. 133:3.
If life is a
Struggle
If
life is a struggle, what does death offers in the long run?
Why do we grief over our short comings?
In
high places sits the arrogant, time makes the calls and he is of little means!
Time
is a thief it robs us of our youth, it makes us gray and savvy, only to reverse
as we become children again in our unstable state.
If only we could remain children’s forever can
we challenge time?
Time
produces; time reduces, and time the crook that steals values as it never burns
out. When one wonders time laughs, when one is hurting time laughs, when one is
lonely time laughs, time follows no command it is space to be filled, infinite
like the thief’s treachery, ever present to observe and molest our slightest
moments, like a
motionless predator it works its web, and consumes, destroys.
The time capsule that never runs out, the
subjects trapped in its belly with little hope, time the unscrupulous vigilant,
the giver and taker of life.
Time drags when it is having greater moments, the
time is and the time will come for all under its sight to time no more!
If not for the cosmos, and the seasons we
would be like the dust tossed in the wind, miniature particles of matter that
resemble time itself in so many ways.
The Great Spirit is great, find him and make
him your allied. Bow to the mysteries and secrets that simple minds charge at,
because understanding is not its helper.
The balance of nature is becoming undone, who
can reverse it? Oh surrogate mother earth that sustains life for a little while, you that
shelters the offspring’s of creation in the bosom of paradise, she calls for
the souls to fertilize her grounds, she cries out with open mouth and a belly
that’s never satisfied.
(C) write protected
Raphael G
Spring
of 2010
