Hello,
Where did the summer go?
For as long as I can remember, the three months of summer have always
passed by much faster than the three months of winter. The fact is that summer and winter
compose the same amount of time, but at least for me, they don’t seem to be the
same amount of time.
Time is a strange thing. We
hear it tick and tock with the same tempo, second by second, but some of those
seconds seem to expand as if put under a high powered microscope, and other
seconds fly by faster than the speed of their sound. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was holding my boys in
my arms, newborn and new to the world.
But when I try and do the things that I did back then, my achy muscles and
molasses paced reactions let me know just how much time has passed. When I look at the pictures in my
“Illinois Man Cave” of my days at the University of Illinois, it doesn’t seem
that long ago that my hair was fuller and longer and my waistline was
thinner. But when I remember that
we had one phone in our fraternity house which we had to take turns answering
every night, and we used typewriters with carbon paper, the cell phone in my
pocket that takes dictation from me and connects me to every corner of the
world lets me know just how much time has passed.
Time. It is a strange
thing, but this can be said of it for sure: time comes and goes. Like a baseball pitch, we only get one
swing at every second that comes by.
In baseball you know you will get at least three swings, but in life you
don’t know the number of swings you’ll get.
Someone once said that he was sure that when his time in this life would
come to an end, he was certain that he would not say to himself, “Gee, I wish I
would have spent more time at work.”
I think that I would add to that, that when I reach that day, I don’t
think that I will say that I wish I had spent more time fretting and worrying,
getting angry over little things, finding fault in myself and others, being
envious of what others had, or trying to live up to other people’s unrealistic
expectations.
But I do think that I will say to myself that I will be thankful for the
time that I spent with the people that I most dearly love, thankful for the
good that I brought to other people’s lives, thankful for the moments of peace
and calm, thankful for the unexpected and unmerited joys that sprinkled my
days….and thankful for the grace of God that carried me through every day. Grace when faith was full and
vibrant. Grace when doubts
sandblasted the little faith that was there.
Some say that I am wasting my time when I go to church every Sunday, but
I don’t think so, because the proof will be in the pudding when my time nears
its end and I look back. I am
quite certain that I will be thankful for every moment of my time that I spent being shaped by
the Word of God. I will be
thankful for every time I heard, “This is my body…this is my blood….shed for
you.” I will be thankful for the
rut of hope that God weekly dug in my life.
Sunday is coming like a baseball being thrown from the mound….you only
get to swing at it once…..why not swing your way into church…..you’ll be
thankful now and when your time is coming to an end.
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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