Compelling Moments

“Time, like an ever-rolling stream, soon bears us all away;”

Time moves more quickly when

more of it is behind me than before me;

where does the time go?

What has time done to me?

Days pass, like an

“ever-rolling stream” and

it does not stop to check to see

if I am coming along.

So much yet to do, so much to see and write . . .

I am in a race with time

that I will not win.

 

Time:

leads me to reflection and perspective,

softens me and heals some wounds.

My memories grow dim, or

become more precious.

Maybe with time I can reflect that

healing will come,

tears will pass,

hope will return,

life will go on.

 

With the passing of time life’s issues become

more urgent, compelling, pressing,

insistent, crucial, pivotal, acute.

I have seen loss, pain, rejection,

heartbreak, little money, fear,

death, regret, change,

and still I am alive with hope and

promise for listening and caring for

God’s most vulnerable and hurting people.

I see the pain and despair of women and children,

girls and boys,

raped in Sudan,

and I insistently wonder

how this can be stopped.

I see the corruption in governments that feeds

the selfish wishes of leaders who are

accumulating more and more

at the expense of those who have nothing left,

and I pray,

“your will be done on earth

as it is in heaven.”

 

Now there also needs to be time for silence,

for reflection on experiences and relationships,

for leafing through the pages of memories,

for faith in the face of the deep unknown,

for adventures of new learnings yet to come.

No time to spend in judging and condemning.

 

Could it be that all the time that

now stands behind me has

prepared me for this time

and the time to come?

 

There is an urgency to time;

imperative, present, pregnant,

anticipating the promise of time to be

explored, expanded, God-given,

life-giving and life-sharing;

time for learning to live in ways

I never thought possible;

productive, blooming, imaginative,

reflective, inventive, creative, . . .

“Time, like an ever-rolling stream, . . .