Reflections, looking back, memory land...what a happy experience it is to visit old friends and reminisce. A businessman in Kirkland Lake was thinking of the July 2006 school reunion week when he said, “I can’t believe how fast time has gone by!” It was thirty years since he graduated from the 77-year-old local school, and the time had come to celebrate together. In a couple of months a new school would receive the students. The old school would be demolished. Its glory days were done.
Of course such changes are common even in your town. Things don’t stay the same. Time passes quickly—look in the mirror and see changes. I am reminded of the words of James: “What is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away” (James 4:1414Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. (James 4:14)).
This July was a time of reflection for my father. His grandson, Steve, a real estate salesman, just sold the steel mill on Welland’s Main Street. Dad started work there when he was sixteen. He could never have dreamed that his future grandson would sell the booming industrial complex, and now the factory is no more. Soon the property on Welland’s Main Street will sprout apartment buildings.
As a boy I often stood there along the fence and watched the men use big tongs to hold the red-hot steel ingots and redirect them through the rollers. Soon the steel looked like 100-foot-long glowing bars of spaghetti as they slid threateningly across the floor through the din and clamor of the mill, but as time flew by I entered the health field instead.
It seems but yesterday I stood there, but forty years have come and gone. The steel workers have come and gone. Problems, along with time itself, have risen like a mist from the kettle and then disappeared. Have you noticed how quickly the years have sped by?
As time passes, we need to stop on one of those busy, dizzy days and reflect on our spiritual maturity. Have you taken time to remember God? To read His Word? It’s called the B-I-B-L-E, that is, Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.
You might ask, Where should I begin in that big Book? Read John, and reflect on his portrait of Jesus Christ as the changeless Water of Life. Are you thirsty for the knowledge of God? Do you long for the peace that comes with knowing your sins are forgiven? Drink deeply in God’s Book.
The vapor of life is disappearing. Future days may be both few and futile. Today is called the Present. And it is truly a Gift. Use it wisely, and take time to thank the Giver!