I recently began to read C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters and came across a profound way of looking at time, which I felt was appropriate since we are beginning a new year. The quote reads: "The present is the point at which time touches eternity." In our perception of time, the past and the future do not meet except for in the present. We tend to think of the now as the middle of the timeline, but in reality we simply cannot fathom eternity. It is a bit of a sobering thought to think of today as being virtually invisible in the grand painting of eternity. Even so, that does not make the present meaningless. It is quite the contrary. The present becomes all the more important because it only happens once.
I think it is important for us to realize that the time we are given will never be given back to us when it passes. We must make the most of the short time we really have here on Earth because we only have so much time to take it in and to be with the other people on it. My generation has coined the term YOLO, or You Only Live Once and although this philosophy (if it can even be called that) could motivate some people to do great things, it is largely misused. It has become an excuse for people to do stupid things, or spend all of their time finding new ways to live life to the fullest. The latter is the bigger problem of the two because the way to the fullest life is not something new or in need of discovery. It is right in front of us. John 10:10. Christ has come so we may have life to the full.
Time is precious not because I will die, but because others will.
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