Tempus Fugit
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. –Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NIV)
I talked to my son on Christmas Day via video chat. Ostensibly, the call was to exchange holiday greetings and allow my oldest granddaughter to show me the Christmas gift my wife and I had sent her, since we were unable to see her in person this year. But the call took a turn toward the philosophical when my son began to share his evolving view of life.
My dad is eighty-five. I am sixty-two. My son is thirty-six. His youngest is five months. My son has reached an age where he is able to appreciate how quickly the years pass. He has seen his Papa go from the one who had the answers to one who increasingly depends on the care and kindness of others. He has seen his dad go from a young, cocksure character to one who understands both the honor and the cost of making and keeping promises. He is able to reflect on his own progression from childhood to mature man, one with responsibilities, and he is able to see the future in the eyes of his two girls.
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. –Ephesians 5:15-16 (ESV)
I never learned Latin as a student, but I was introduced to two Latin phrases as a boy, both first made popular by poets a few decades before the birth of Christ. They were related to time, and my dad was the one who taught them to me.
Tempus Fugit means “Time Flies”. My parents collected clocks, mostly antique. One of the fancier ones (at least in my estimation) had the words on its face. Daddy took great care to sync them to all keep perfect time, but later found pleasure in adjusting them to where they were slightly offset from one another, so as to hear each clock’s individual chime – less perfect, more beautiful.
Carpe Diem means “Seize the Day”. It was something my father occasionally said to remind me to get on with the task at hand. It sounded elegant to my young ears, and if I failed to respond with appropriate urgency, he would soon follow up with a more direct and colorful version of his messaging which I’ll not mention here.
Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. –James 4:14 (ESV)
When my son was two or three years old, his Papa taught him a song:
Enjoy yourself – it’s later than you think!
Enjoy yourself while you’re still in the pink.
The years go by as quickly as a wink.
Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think!
My son was too small to properly pronounce the words, so it came out as “enjoy lerself, it’s later an loo fink” and “do your ears go by as clickly as a wink”. How much less could he understand the significance of the lyrics, but it was a fun song that the two of them enjoyed singing together.
So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. –Psalm 90:12 (ESV)
I was recently discussing time management and priorities with a group of guys I meet with. One of them talked about being stewards of time as an asset entrusted to us by the Master. Our time is not our own; it is to be cultivated and cared for in a way that He receives a return on investment.
What does that look like? Maybe another song, this one by the Eagles:
You can spend all your time makin’ money.
You can spend all your love makin’ time.
If it all fell to pieces tomorrow, would you still be mine?
Nobody ever came to the end of their days regretting that they looked for ways to love the people around them to the glory of the Father.