I, quite often, find both joy and rest elusive.

When I have been given a time of rest, I do not.

When given the opportunity to experience joy, I do not.

I allow the pressures and frustrations of the world to steal these times and these feelings. Thinking that I must rush to the next opportunity or fight the next fire, pressing ever forward. Not taking the time given and allowing myself to rest and recover and simply feel the joy of the moment.

This is the world (and the enemy) at work in and around us daily. Pushing us for more, more, more. Robbing us of our joy of the moment for the elusive expectation of greater joy of a tomorrow that may not come.

What wretched creatures we are!

Psalm 39:4-6 (Christian Standard Bible)

⁴ “Lord, make me aware of my end
and the number of my days
so that I will know how short-lived I am.
⁵ In fact, you have made my days just inches long,
and my life span is as nothing to you.
Yes, every human being stands as only a vapor.
⁶ Yes, a person goes about like a mere shadow.
Indeed, they rush around in vain,
gathering possessions
without knowing who will get them.

I have a time now where I can slow down a bit, heal my weary body and mind and take time for others. I can watch their comings and goings and see, and often feel, the stress and strain.

We were meant for more than this.

As a good friend said to me recently, “God works when we least expect it.”

I think about all the things I have missed in life while I was rushing about. Surely, I am of an age with my kids married and gone where I look back and ask myself, “where did it all go?”

Just yesterday I was bounding of them on my knee, mending a cut, watching them walk off to school, headed to prom, graduating, marrying…..days gone by….

I do not lament this, at least not much. I remember those times with fondness but wish so much that I had taken more time to just enjoy the moment. When it is happening, we think we are but everything happens so fast and we do not savor time.

Now, they are gone and I only have the memories to savor and my wife can tell you, I have become a sappy old man.

This is a story we all have heard and read over and over again. Much like history, if we do not learn from it we are destined to repeat it, and yet we do. We pour ourselves into our jobs, our hobbies, our teams, our living and the moments do not just tick by, they fly.

We should savor time like a fine wine, sipping the moment, letting it roll around in our mouth before we lovingly swallow essence of what we are experiencing.

Looking back on time provides a 20/20 view. We see what we have missed and lament the fact that we cannot get time back. We can only take the moment we are given, no matter how fleeting it might be, and savor it now.

This may sound like a lament but it is not. It is simply stating the obvious and hoping that you (and I) learn from it and do not discard it as just the ramblings of an old man.

Because I am not yet truly old. I am older and wiser yes, but not old. Seasoned.

I know now the things that all learn, if we are lucky, through the passing of years and a life. When we are afforded a moment to truly reflect on our past and our present while looking toward the future.

Savor the time you have because we have no idea how much is left.