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February 10

A little word about time and one’s aging caught my attention and is significant for those in their senior years. William Dean Howells wrote: “You’ll find as you grow older that you weren’t born such a great while ago after all. The time shortens up.”

When we think about time . . . the time we have and do not have . . . our thoughts can be aided by the verses of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament.

There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.

(Ecclesiastes 3:1–8).

He has also set eternity in the hearts of men. (Ecclesiastes 3:11b).

These verses from God’s Word have a dual focus—they are about time and eternity. Time has many definitions. One definition I read calls time “a definite portion of duration” . . . about as simple as you can get. Eternity on the other hand is “reality or existence without time.” In other words, it’s timeless. For us, time is counted by heartbeats. However, eternity for us is that longing that a loving Heavenly Father has set in our hearts—a heavenly anticipation, if you like.

There are many ways to use our allotted time. Let us use it wisely in the service of our Master in whatever ways we are able.