Time Marches On

The day passed quickly and was a reminder on the way home of how quickly time marches on.

At some point in the not-too-distant past I looked in the mirror an scarcely recognized the figure that was puzzledly looking back at me. Young boyish features had become covered up with what appeared to be wrinkles but obviously must have been imposters. Black facial hair had been infiltrated with some uninvited far lighter colored guests. I splashed water and rubbed my eyes, and then to my surprise, it dawned on me that the figure was indeed me after all – only accompanied now by the evidences of the cold hands of time that seem to catch up with us all. What follows are a few recent personal experiences that cause me to be very aware of the fact that Time Marches On.

Our family has enjoyed a Sunday tradition for some time now of gathering a “Grammy and Papa’s” house for lunch after church. Sometimes everyone can make it. Sometimes only a few. For various reasons, it had been a few weeks since our oldest son and children were able to join us. Then two Sundays ago, they were able to make it. Oh…my…goodness! It seemed that the oldest had grown a foot and the youngest had become a PhD since our last visit with them! It had only been a few weeks, but my, my how the effects of time showed itself in their young lives. No wonder Moses prayed in Psalm 90:12, “Teach us to number our days…”. Things sure can change quickly!

When my youngest son graduated high school, he soon thereafter went off to basic training for the National Guard. Upon returning, circumstances required him to live and work in town rather than in the woods where he was raised. Fast forward and he is a policeman in the town of Sulphur which makes our face-to-face interactions few and far between. So, you can imagine my delight when a weekend off for him and a Saturday at the lake coincided! We talked, but conversations now had the substance of house hunting for him and his fiancé’ rather than football and deer hunting, difficulties of jobs rather than difficulties of girlfriends, and anyone who knows Trey will understand this – he fished more than he ate the food in the boat! The day passed quickly and was a reminder on the way home of how quickly time marches on. How right old Brother James was when he wrote, “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” – James 4:14. Time marches on.

But as time marches on, I’m learning that there’s some satisfaction in the gray beard and wrinkled face. Opportunities to say, “Hey, I’ve been where you are.” seem to present themselves more frequently. Seeing warning signs in someone’s life trajectory that I never saw in my own offer chances to say, “Have you ever thought about it this way?…” And I’m learning as I age, I’m less absorbed with myself and find more enjoyment in observing others and celebrating their victories along the way. Time is marching on, but the memories of yesterday are fond ones, and the hope of tomorrow is bright. Tomorrow helps us keep going today, and yesterday gives us the wisdom to do it better next time. None of that would happen if time didn’t march on. So enjoy the journey. Slow down and notice the beauty in life’s windshield before it quickly appears only in the rearview mirror. Time is gonna march on. Make every second of it count!

And perhaps one of these days we’ll get to share some of this time or stories of the times as we float down an old river or skin an old buck. Casting and cutting, we can discuss the marching of time and then part ways saying, “I’ll see you later – in the Great Outdoors!”