For the most part, I minded not how the hours went. The day advanced as if to light some work of mine; it was morning, and lo, now it is evening, and nothing memorable is accomplished. Instead of singing like the birds, I silently smiled at my incessant good fortune. As the sparrow had its trill, sitting on the hickory before my door, so had I my chuckle or suppressed warble which he might hear out of my nest. My days were not days of the week, bearing the stamp of any heathen deity, nor were they minced into hours and fretted by the ticking of a clock; for I lived like the Puri Indians, of whom it is said that for yesterday, today, and tomorrow they have only one word, and they express the variety of meaning by pointing backward for yesterday forward for tomorrow, and overhead for the passing day.
Henry David Thoreau, from Walden
It’s only hard to imagine eternal life if you are enslaved by your calendar. There are actually only two times – then and now, and then is just an illusion. All of the past you carry like chains has come and gone and tomorrow, as they say, never comes. Thoreau urged us to simplify and Emily Dickinson said it best with “Forever is composed of nows.” The distance between now and then belongs to you and is entirely your accountability. If now is squandered it is forever wasted and becomes regret with which another now is wasted.
In his book City of God St. Augustine wrote “There can be no doubt that the world was not created in time but with time” because “God, in whose eternity there is no change at all, is the creator and director of time.” Your now was the gift you received when God woke you this morning, and not everyone received it. When scripture speaks of “redeeming the time” it simply means you have a choice. Your life will be filled with joy if you invest your now in that which is eternal because joy is greater than happiness. Happiness comes and goes because it is dependent on happenings, and let’s face it – bad things happen.
Here’s your power in Christ – you are more than your circumstances.
Ephesians 5:15–19See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.
