Dr. Seuss had a way with words. He arranged them in odd and uncommon ways, and made up a few along the way, to weave his goofy but profound stories. For example, most of us have wondered out loud, “Doesn’t time fly?” or “Where did the time (week, month, year) go?” A good enough way to say what we all feel – but not for Dr. Seuss. He strung together these words to express the sense of exasperation we sometimes feel about the fast and fleeting nature of time on earth – “How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before it’s afternoon. December is here before it’s June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?" (@ www.brainyquote.com)
Dr. Seuss didn’t quote any Scripture in that little piece, and I don’t know if he believed the Bible or not. But he stressed a Bible truth with his Dr. Seuss-ie words –the truth that life on earth is indeed fleeting and roars by with a speed that only seems to increase as the years and decades pile up. No matter how old we are, the Bible urges us to understand we are being carried rapidly along the swift flow of the river we call life.
We may stay in too big a rush to notice and to take it to heart, but concerning life and time on earth, God says “it is soon cut off, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:10b). Those who take time, and God, seriously, will frequently consider the sobering words found in Psalm 39:4-5 (English Standard Version) – “O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!” Since 1904, beautiful words by Jennie Wilson have urged people to take inventory of how they are using their finite and fleeting time on earth – “Time is filled with swift transition – Naught of Earth unmoved can stand – Build your hopes on things eternal, Hold to God’s unchanging hand” (Hold To God’s Unchanging Hand, verse 1). Just as beautiful and perhaps a little haunting to those who listen with the heart are these ear-gripping words from the pen of Ruth Johnson Carruth – “Swiftly we’re turning life’s daily pages, Swiftly the hours are changing to years; How are we using God’s golden moments? Shall we reap glory? Shall we reap tears?” (Into Our Hands, verse 1) An unknown wag said, “Man’s life means: Tender teens, Teachable twenties, Tireless thirties, Fiery forties, Forceful fifties, Serious sixties, Sacred seventies, Aching eighties, Shortening breath, Death, The sod – GOD!” Wherever you are in life, the clock is ticking and it’s soon going to get late!
The words of Ephesians 5:15-17 urge us to realize that it gets late so soon that we must be wise about how we use time – “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” We are all living life in the fast lane, “For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away” (James 4:14b). How does it get so late so soon? No one really knows. I do know that time continues to rush each of us toward eternity. The new year is almost here – but it, too, will soon be gone. Where will you be in your journey toward eternity this time next year? “My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?” Use time in 2016 to come and stay closer to God.
--Dan Gulley
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