The Clock on the Wall and the Passage of Time
I have great respect for people who are always on time. Sadly, I am not one of those people. I always seem to be running a little late, including my efforts to start our worship service on time.
I used to be able to blame the clock in the Narthex, which had remained constant at 6 o’clock since I came to Oak Chapel five years ago, but all that changed last week when a very thoughtful visitor offered to have the clock repaired at no cost to the church. Stuart then remounted the clock, and we are now back in business.
As I reflected on this recent experience, I started to think about how important time is in our daily lives. We talk a lot about being on time, managing time, saving time, making up for lost time, and a host of other sayings related to time.
Ironically, there’s not much we can do about or with time. The clock continues to roll on despite our best efforts to slow it down or stop it. Time is an intangible reality. The one thing we can say for sure is that we never know how much time we have left, but rather than fret about it, we would be wise to make the most of the time we have and to allocate adequate time for rest and relaxation.
Scripture gives us plenty of valuable advice in this area, including this passage of wisdom from Ecclesiastes 3:11, which advises us to acknowledge that “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”
There’s no point in trying to manipulate time; just enjoy the time He has given us and use it to honor and glorify his resplendent name whenever we can.