Redeeming the Time

I am convinced the pace of time varies. When you're a kid, time loiters, d o u b l e - s p a c i n g its sorely-anticipated events. When you're older, time compresses and combusts, propelling you forward with a speed that accelerates till death.

Nothing underscores the passing of years like the growth of children.

Yesterday I re-papered the drawers of a bureau my son and his fiancee will use during their visit. This is the same bureau that, decades earlier, I prepared just hours before Alex's birth. The moment left me feeling wistful. I looked back on the years, thanking God for the men both my sons have become, yet musing how I might have done more for them.

Similar thoughts strike me about my relationship with Jesus Christ. Am I doing all I can for my Lord and Saviour? How am I preparing to meet God?

Among others, the old hymn I Gave My Life for Thee always moves me to tears because it reminds me of how little I am doing in appreciation for the Son of God who sacrificed everything for me.

The Bible in Colossians 4 and Ephesians 5 talks about "redeeming the time". One definition of redeem is "to restore the honor and worth of". I can't buy back my lost years--change the quantity of the time I have left. But I am encouraged by the Word of God to change the quality of it, today, by walking in wisdom and love toward others, by doing His will with all my heart.