The relativity of time

A great run flies by.  Last week's long run was one of those, mind cleansing, the miles over before I knew it.  Today's was the exact opposite.  My legs screamed the entire 8 miles.  So loudly at times that I thought other people were looking at me strangely.  But, it's done, and today's entry isn't really about bad runs versus good runs.  It's a reflection on time.

Spending time with a good friend, sharing a meal, catching up on each other's lives, enjoying a cup of coffee together,  the time melts away.  Taking an ice bath after a bad run makes ten minutes seem like two hours.  Good times speed through our lives at the speed of light.  Hard times seem to drag on forever.

My ice bath today was actually the cause of this reflection.  I carefully noted the time I started as I'm trying to work up to the recommended twenty minutes.  After what seemed like at least ten minutes had passed, I looked at the clock.  Four minutes.  Really?  I'm proud to say I set a new record and lasted twelve minutes. During that time, I started reflecting on time and it's inconsistent properties.

It brought me to a deeper level of thought than the length of an ice bath.  I learned this week that some friends who have been battling the serious illness of both husband and wife received some discouraging news.  This is the latest in a long stream of families that I know or have connections to who have gotten that news that drives you to your knees.

Time.  Theirs is running out.  But, isn't all our time running out?

God divinely planned the day and hour of my birth.  He also knows when He'll be welcoming me home.  We all have a limited amount of time in which to live our lives, leave our legacy.  Is mine what it should be?  Is yours?  If I received the news that I had a certain amount of time left to live, would it change what I'm doing now?  Would I live my life differently?  I hope not.  I pray that the life I'm living is the life I'm supposed to live.  Because the truth is, I do only have a certain amount of time left to live.  I don't know what that is, but I do know God gave me a purpose, a plan. Something in my life is meant to further His kingdom.  Am I doing that?  Am I actively seeking my place, looking for and using my gifts, using my time here to fulfill my destiny?  Last week, our pastor used the owner of the donkey in Luke 19:29-40 to illustrate the point that we all have a place in the story.  The owner of the donkey freely gave his animal to the Lord to use because that was what he had to give.  What is my "donkey"?  What do I have to give to the kingdom?  Am I using my time, my brief journey to further the kingdom?   If not, why not?  Are you?

Yeah, I know, pretty deep for an ice bath.  But, hey, I had to make the time pass somehow.

 ³² Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. ³³ As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”

 ³⁴ They replied, “The Lord needs it.  Luke 19:32-34

What do you have that the Lord needs?