“Time Is Fleeting”

I’ve read and pondered many thoughts on “time” over the years. From saints and sinners, we have come to understand that “time is fleeting”…… “Art is long, and time is fleeting, and our hearts, though stout and brave, still like muffled drums, are beating. Funeral marches to the grave.” (Longfellow. A Psalm of Life)

While I can comment on “time”, I rarely embrace it’s great significance. It seems that we don’t appreciate “it” until it’s gone…”if only I had used my time better, I could have done wonderful things….but I didn’t use it well…I didn’t value it.” How often do you hear a widower(or widow) lament “if only I could have one more conversation with my beloved spouse…talk to her one more time…tell her how much I love her and thank her for all the innumerable act of kindness she poured out on me…if only.”

For much of life, “time” seems like a commodity…of little value, always in abundance, like water; use it, but it’s okay to spill it …… there’s plenty more of it…don’t worry it will never run out.  But then it happens, time runs out. It can start slow with the times of our physical  health dissipating (hearing, seeing, sickness,….),  then it can move to one’s mental health deteriorating…. memory, cognitive skills. I should have done that project, I should have visited that person, I should have worked on that hobby… but now, I’m not able to do it any more. Woooooooe…..

Well, I know this BLOG is getting pretty somber, but the truth is that we have a limited amount of time allotted to us by God. If we don’t value it, we will waste it and allow it to run through our fingers like water. Lord, help us to use each moment well, knowing that we don’t have an unlimited amount. “Time, because it is so fleeting, time because it is beyond recall, is the most precious of human goods and to squander it is the most delicate form of dissipation in which man can indulge.” ( W. Somerset Maugham)

Well I have some good news …….  if you’re reading this BLOG, you have not run out of time…there is still time left…how much, God only knows. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to help us realize the value of time and then to use the time we have well…to do God’s will during the time we have left. God help us.

After squandering his life away with sin, St. Dismas used his last moments of time very well and heard from the Lord, “this day you will be with me in paradise”. (Luke 23:43) Yes the ‘good thief” seized the moment and all ended well for him. St. Dismas pray for each person reading this BLOG, that we might use the time we have left very well…whether 50 years or 50 minutes. By God’s grace we still have time to accomplish great things for Christ. And that is very good news.