Time

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:11-12 ESV).

Time is the only non-renewable resource we have. Everything else we may need or desire can be produced or renewed. Yet there are so many people who do not take seriously their use of their time. The following story is a wonderful illustration of this truth:

A little boy and his parents were walking down the long and winding Time Street. They passed many stores along the way each selling unique items. The first store was Babes 'R us. In the showcase were millions of newborn babies. Beside it was The Growing Palace and next to that 3T's: The Terrible Teens. They also passed many different people who were in very strange places doing even stranger things. There was a group of men and women who were fully-grown but refused to come out of the 3T's store. One man kept going around and around in a revolving door and the crowd inside and outside the business could neither get out nor in. A quarter of the way down Time Street the little boy saw a man standing over a cross and weeping, "Gertrude, I can't go on without you". He had a ball and chain on his feet and would not remove them, even though he had the key and his friends beckoned him to use it. There was a woman who stood, very still, in the middle of the Street, looking back down to where the Street began. "I remember. It was so much better then," she kept on repeating. The little boy marveled at this but kept on moving. As the young man came out of the Let’s Go to Go Mall with a Degree, an executive job and a wife he noticed his parents were missing. Racing out to the Street he saw them entering Death's car which sped off down the street but he still trod on down the road. Soon the stores disappeared and there was a great wilderness but still he continued. Until he met a man called Father Time who strongly embraced him. "This is my street," he said. "I designed and built it to be of good use but many abuse it. They always like to stay in the past and not let go, wishing they were back there. But, that's not what my Street is for. It's for moving on, persevering, learning from your failures and slowly becoming wiser. You can not retrieve lost time neither can you make it stand still. It is a One Way Street filled with great joy and knowledge and success but it is also based on how you view the world. Do not lose heart my child. Each day is a new beginning for you. Forget the past and look forward to your future." And the young man trod on.

Though we cannot know what the future holds, we can commit ourselves to growing out of our “childish” ways and walking in maturity through faith in Christ. Don’t waste a single minute of your time in the past. Learn from it and move on to the future God has designed for you!