I know that time is constant.
That minutes and hours and days don’t actually”fly” by.
That there’s no such thing as a “flash” second, and that even though my 20’s seem like “just yesterday” and my toddler children seem to have become adults overnight it really has been so many years that have passed.
But there are times when the hallways of my mind seem to be on fast-forward. People racing through the corridors, events toppling over one another, tripping over the close proximity of time and space. The blur of what has just been, colliding with the beginning of what is yet to be. A stream of color and faces and emotions and activities lining the walls of these bustling hallways.
This week marks our first year here in Pleasanton. A year ago today (or maybe tomorrow?) we came to this community with no idea of what it held for us.
They say that time flies when you’re having fun, which I guess is the only explanation as to how we have gotten to this milestone in what seems like the “blink of an eye”.
And though the word “fun” is not nearly a profound enough description for what this past year has held, it’s definitely been laced through the fabric of every situation, opportunity and friendship that has blossomed in this place.
Time is constant. But in my mind and experience, it has had hummingbird wings. Fast and furious. Beautiful and curious.
This will be a busy summer both here and abroad. This week I fly to Denver, next week Mark and I head to Cambodia to see Janay. July holds a trip to Tahoe and Washington. And in between the hither and yon, there are one-on-ones, meetings, gatherings and get-togethers right here, Father’s Day, Fourth of July.
I would love to have time be static every once in a while. To be able to stop it and savor the moments a little longer. To roll them around in my soul and squeeze every bit of life juice out of them. To have it linger just long enough to cement every image and conversation in solid, specific memories.
Sometimes that will happen. Sometimes there will be moments so profound that I can spell them backwards and forwards. Repeat them verbatim. Relive them completely in my mind.
But more often what happens when time seems to soar onward as it does, it leaves behind the less distinct memories pregnant with the delicious emotions that accompanied them. And the beautiful blur only seems to illustrate the speed with which these events came and went.
Here is my plan to capture time in my little bottle and never let it go.
With every encounter, situation, or conversation I want to find one phrase, one word picture, one sentiment that represents what is happening at that moment. I want to grab that small morsel and document it. Not every detail, just a simple icon for my mind. A place where I can go back and savor and ponder and remember. Where just a word can release the flood of memory within me.
I won’t stay there long. Life won’t allow it. Constant time will continue to use its wings. But every so often I will go there and jump back into that moment where time stands still and memories don’t die. Where I can remember what God has done and thank Him all over again, with renewed hope for the next fleeting moment.
Today I will savor the minutes and hours of now as best I can. To wring the life out of each second before it flies from my hand. I will watch for words and phrases and pictures that will prompt my memory to evoke smiles of gratitude.
And may that habit become even more constant than time itself…
Psalm 103:2 – Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me.
Psalm 105:5 – Remember the wonders he has performed, his miracles, and the rulings he has given..
Psalm 77:11 – But then I recall all you have done, O LORD; I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.
“Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.”
― Anthony G. Oettinger 🙂
“How did it get so late so soon?”
― Dr. Seuss 🙂
