By Matt Sapp
Yesterday was my fourth wedding anniversary. The second day of June, 2012, I married Julie Knight and have been privileged to live in her orbit ever since. Each year we each travel 93 million miles around the sun. So, today, Julie and I have made it 372 million miles together—an incredible journey already.
And, as cliché as it sounds, I can’t believe it’s been four years already.
Time is a tricky thing. The same moments in our lives—like wedding days—can at one moment seem like only yesterday and at other moments seem like a lifetime ago.
I spent a good portion of my three-year master’s program thinking about time and its relationship to eternity and our sinfulness. I won’t bore you with those thoughts here, except to say that as Christians we live in a world governed by the realities and rules of time, but we look forward to an eternal future in fellowship with an eternal God. That makes our relationship with time strained at best.
Time, like us, is part of a fallen world that needs to be redeemed. That means time is not an unqualified good; it is not an essential part of God’s design. When time is used wisely, it can feel like a gift. But when time is squandered it feels like a curse.
Time is a tricky thing. So here are three thoughts about time as I celebrate another trip around the sun with Julie.
- Learn to live with your past.
Every previous second—even the most painful ones, the ones marked by my greatest disappointments and mistakes—contributes to who I am today. Although I know I’m far from perfect, I’m happy with the person God is leading me to become.
I haven’t always been able to say that. Who has? But I’m working, as I hope you are, too, to live beyond past regrets. Don’t let any regret about who you’ve been or what you’ve done rob you of the joy of being who God calls you to be today.
- Don’t fear the future.
The control freak in all of us wants to know just exactly how tomorrow or next year or the next decade will turn out. Uncertainty—and uncertainty is always about the future—naturally breeds fear. Worry about the future robs us of the joy of now. Jesus devotes a significant portion of the Sermon on the Mount to this idea. We should take note.
Learn to accept the future—whatever it may be—without the anxiety, worry, tension and nervousness that often accompanies uncertainty.
- Prioritize the present.
Prioritize the present. And even more, prioritize the people in the present. The most important parts of who we are—apart from God—are the people who make up the moments of our lives.
As I think about Julie today and the four years that have slipped by us, I’m reminded that we ought to prioritize people and our shared experiences together over everything else.
There is no other time but now. There is no better time. There is no perfect time. There is no future time. There is only now. Enjoy the present. Value where you are and who you are and what you have now. It’s the only way to be happy.
One day, we say, when I have more economic security, I’ll be more true to myself. One day, when I don’t have to worry what other people think, I’ll be bolder in my thinking. One day I’ll be more truthful and daring in how I express myself. We have all kinds of excuses that keep us from living fully into the people God has called us to be.
Now is the time to ditch the excuses. Now is the time to be who God has called you to be.
So, when you’re tempted to move beyond the present moment, either to the guilt of the past or the anxiety of the future, remember the great miracle that you are right now.
Don’t believe me? Right now, you are hurtling through space at more than 33,000 miles per hour on one more trip around the sun. Feel the wind on your face, and enjoy the ride.
Reprinted with permission from the author.
Baptist Spirituality 