“Time, oh time; where did you go.”
Pozo-Seco Singers – 1964
In the early 60’s I was really into folk music. I listened to it and sang it. One popular song was called “Time.” Its lyrics reflect on a subject with which I’ve always been interested. Time is always about perspective. Last week I was driving my 8-year-old grandson to his baseball game – he is really hooked on baseball and talks about it all the time. He told me that his team was playing the Tigers on that day. And then he paused, looked pensive, and said, “In my entire baseball career I’ve never played a team called the Tigers!” He’s been playing baseball for less than a year, but its his “entire career.” He has an entirely different perspective of time than me; because, as he so eloquently said, “You’re old granddaddy.”
We do wonder with the lyrics of the song, where did time go? Even better, what is time? We are told that God’s perception of time and ours are not the same. In fact, I believe now that time is a dimension that He created just for us; a metric that we can follow to place our lives and events. In C.S. Lewis classic The Great Divorce, an angel is trying to convince a current resident of Hell to repent of his sins and come into Heaven. The man is fighting the change and says to the angel, “Some other time perhaps.” The angel replies, “There is no other time. All moments are as now.” There it is. What if all moments are as now to God. There is no before or after – only now. It’s impossible for us to wrap our minds around, isn’t it? But if He can create the boundless universe with many galaxies containing stars and planets of immense size, and the intricacies of the function of tiny cells in our human bodies, and the workings of the human brain then why can’t He create a new dimension for us?
When we are frustrated at God’s timing in answering our prayers, what if we understood that with God “all moments are as now.” So that when that prayer is answered 30 years from now, that’s still the mighty hand of our mighty God. Remember the words of Isaiah 55:8 – ““For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
So enjoy time with a child’s unique perspective. Open your eyes to what’s happening in your “career” now! Smell the roses and enjoy the games. Some day we will all ask, “Time, where did you go?”
