[bible]ecc 3,1-8[/bible]
Time Defines Perspective
In this passage, Solomon gave us a snapshot of human existence from a new perspective. Time is another cycle that binds us. It not only limits the length of our earthly existence, but it also limits our perspective of our existence. Time is a prison cell that locks us in and keeps us from seeing beyond our immediate surroundings.
Our horizons can get very narrow sometimes. I spent two weeks in the hospital some time ago. The first two thirds of that time, I was in a room where I couldn’t see outside. I had walls on three sides and a curtain on the other side. I didn’t realize how much this bothered me until they moved me to a different room. Now my bed was beside a window, and I could see out. I could see clouds, and I could look down into a little courtyard. I could see the sunshine and I could watch it rain. It was wonderful, and it made me feel better almost immediately — just because my horizons had broadened.
My horizons still weren’t that broad. The courtyard was surrounded by buildings, and I was in the middle of a city. But it was better, much better, than being in the room where I couldn’t see out. That is the difference that perspective can make.
Time seems to be three dimensional, yet it isn’t. We often divide time into past, present and future, which seems like three dimensions at first glance. But, if we stop to think it through, that’s not how it is. An old song says, yesterday is gone, and tomorrow may never come, but we have this moment, today. Right now, is the only time you have. You can’t recapture yesterday, or jump right into tomorrow. The only reality of time is today. In fact, if tomorrow comes, it will still be today.
Since you can’t fast forward time, or rewind it, it is important to capture our moments as they flee past us. So how long does right now last? If God lays it on your heart to apologize to a friend for an unkind statement, and he’s standing beside you, you had better grab that moment, because once it’s gone, it’s gone. That moment will never reoccur, and who knows whether another moment will ever come along that lets you do it.
The box that time puts around you is very small. The dimensions of past and future are merely mirages that fool us and tempt us to waste today.
Time
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Re: Time
Some thoughts from own experience:lesterb wrote:Thoughts or discussion?
-Time is not an adversary rather it's a friend. Enough time passing gives us new appreciation and perspective for God's plans and Will.
That's the concept that these Ecclesiastes passages reminds me of. Patience with every purpose under heaven yields rich trust in God's friendship and rich mercy for my own humanity.
0 x
Max (Plain Catholic)
Mt 24:35
Proverbs 18:2 A fool does not delight in understanding but only in revealing his own mind.
1 Corinthians 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God
Mt 24:35
Proverbs 18:2 A fool does not delight in understanding but only in revealing his own mind.
1 Corinthians 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God
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- Affiliation: MidWest Fellowship
Re: Time
You touched on a great truth, whether intentionally or unintentionally, I don't know.lesterb wrote:[bible]ecc 3,1-8[/bible]
Time Defines Perspective
In this passage, Solomon gave us a snapshot of human existence from a new perspective. Time is another cycle that binds us. It not only limits the length of our earthly existence, but it also limits our perspective of our existence. Time is a prison cell that locks us in and keeps us from seeing beyond our immediate surroundings.
Our horizons can get very narrow sometimes. I spent two weeks in the hospital some time ago. The first two thirds of that time, I was in a room where I couldn’t see outside. I had walls on three sides and a curtain on the other side. I didn’t realize how much this bothered me until they moved me to a different room. Now my bed was beside a window, and I could see out. I could see clouds, and I could look down into a little courtyard. I could see the sunshine and I could watch it rain. It was wonderful, and it made me feel better almost immediately — just because my horizons had broadened.
My horizons still weren’t that broad. The courtyard was surrounded by buildings, and I was in the middle of a city. But it was better, much better, than being in the room where I couldn’t see out. That is the difference that perspective can make.
Time seems to be three dimensional, yet it isn’t. We often divide time into past, present and future, which seems like three dimensions at first glance. But, if we stop to think it through, that’s not how it is. An old song says, yesterday is gone, and tomorrow may never come, but we have this moment, today. Right now, is the only time you have. You can’t recapture yesterday, or jump right into tomorrow. The only reality of time is today. In fact, if tomorrow comes, it will still be today.
Since you can’t fast forward time, or rewind it, it is important to capture our moments as they flee past us. So how long does right now last? If God lays it on your heart to apologize to a friend for an unkind statement, and he’s standing beside you, you had better grab that moment, because once it’s gone, it’s gone. That moment will never reoccur, and who knows whether another moment will ever come along that lets you do it.
The box that time puts around you is very small. The dimensions of past and future are merely mirages that fool us and tempt us to waste today.
On the spiritual, eternal side of the veil, events just are.
On our side of the veil, the material, temporal side, we have to define events, and deal with them, within the framework of linear time.
And I'll throw this in, even though I should know better, that's why understanding God's predetermination eludes us.
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Noah was a conspiracy theorist...and then it began to rain.~Unknown