As Time Goes On...

A thought came to mind the other day as I was saying to a friend, “I couldn’t believe it’s my 25th next January. It feels like only yesterday I was at high school. “Yeah, yeah I know not that old right? But saying that made me really think about it. Why is it that as we get older the days, weeks, months and years seem to go by faster and faster? So I thought I would google it. The average answer that came up was that one year in comparison to your age is smaller each year, for example when you’re 5 one year is 1/5 of your age so it seems like forever for your next birthday to come, or when you are 30 one year is 1/30 of your age so it doesn’t seem like a long time just a small one year. Simple answer hey? It may well be true but it just wasn’t enough for me so I just began to think about it further. I began to think about some of my earliest memories. My memories from first school are some of the best ones cos everything was new and even though I was a slow learner I used to take in so much every day. I was soooo small and the world around me was sooooo huge. I remembered counting down the minutes and hours till Christmas day and how many sleeps till my next birthday. At that age it felt like time was my enemy that it was going too slow. I wanted to grow up quicker than time would let me. I would speak of “when I’m 10 I’m gonna do this…” as I’m sure all you guys did to. I even used to say I couldn’t wait to be old enough to shave!!! Stupid I can’t stand shaving. Thinking about it time felt as though it was an enemy when I was younger in that it wouldn’t go fast enough, and now it had become a new enemy. It was going too fast. So why? Maybe it is the reason I found on google. Or maybe it’s a collection of different things. Maybe it’s life itself? If you read the last note I wrote you would have read about me saying why young children find it easy to do and not ask, and how easy it is for us to put up walls and barriers in our lives. Well I guess this topic kind of ties in with this in a way. For example do you remember learning how to go to the toilet on your own? I personally don’t, and I don’t think about how to now when I go. Because it’s an everyday normal thing, something you can do in your sleep - a no brainier. Well the same can be said for life. When you get into a routine you find your days going by so fast that you don’t even have time to stop and think about it. Like I used to work in kitchens, and my life got into a massive routine. An average day would be as follows: Wake up: brush teeth, go to the toilet while brushing teeth (I used to work very long hours so every minute of sleep made a huge difference, so this would all be done in like 20mins) jump in the shower dry hair do hair get dressed while eating a banana. Ride 5 minutes to work. WORK (another repetitive 18hours) Ride home have a shower and go to sleep. It was like that day in day out week after week. Even my days off were the same most weekends. So life became a no brainier. Don’t get me wrong, I had to think at work but not hard cos I’d been cooking for ages so it just became second nature to me. I was learning every day but in comparison to the amount I learned in an average day when I was younger not a lot. So with I came to the conclusion that life went by faster as the years went by because of work. But thinking about that just made me think that there was more to it. Sooooo again I though more about it (having got to this point I had a headache due to all the thinking hehehe…) no I thought about how everyday life affects us. How the everyday things, the not so everyday things affected us, and how it makes us see life as a whole. We all go through our hard times, our shaping and molding times. Some come out of these times in good shape others in a worse shape than when they started. And when things like that happen you do tend to put up your guard more often, to question new things, be more likely to stay in some thing cos its easier to be in it, or just live with it cos change would just be effort. At some point we’ve all said one of these things or thought it, and I’m sure if your honest you’ve probably said it a few times. Whether it be a relationship, job, debt, or certain mindset. We just label change or new things to much effort and not worth the time. So I was like sure that must be the reason cos if we don’t like new things or we are skeptical about change than we wont be spending most of the day learning things taking in new things like we did when we where a child. The world becomes smaller cos you think you know pretty much all you need to know to go about life. And in all fairness you probably do know all there is to know about your life as it is. And even after this it felt as though there was more to it. So it was back to the thinking block. Worry right worry has to have a part to play in it. I mean when you worry you begin to stress over things, you begin to over analyze things, you obsess about things, you worry about what tomorrow will bring or next week, or worry that something in your past will come back and bite you in the proverbial. What does the Bible say about worry? Matthew 6 (New King James Version) 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Now there are loads of verses about worrying but I thought these fit this subject so well. I’ll start with verse 34 it tells us “do not worry about tomorrow” ok this isn’t an excuse for you to say to your boss when he asks will you have that report done for tomorrow, I don’t know lets see tomorrow. No it just means not to worry. You still need to prepare and not be ignorant for tomorrow will come. (If you’re saying what if tomorrow doesn’t come then my friends I’ll say where is your faith?) I don’t think I need to go into the rest of the verse its quite self-explanatory. So on to verse 27. I think the Amplified Bible explains it better “And who of you by worrying and being anxious can add one unit of measure (cubit) to his stature or to the span of his life?” In other words where does worry get you? Nowhere good that’s for sure. It doesn’t solve any problems; it doesn’t make you any happier or clear your mind. In fact the only thing it does do is lead to more worry, more stressed out and bogged down with burdens. In Psalms 35:22 we are told to cast our burdens on the Lord. A burden is something that is emotionally difficult to bear, or a source of great worry and stress. How that’s not even the bible telling us that that’s the world. So why then do we allow these silly things to rule our lives, to sap the joy out of life, to stop us from learning all that we can and stop us from reaching our full potential in God? Because it’s easier to worry and stress about some thing we can see or foresee, than trust that which we can’t. Timothy 1:7 says, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sound mind.” He made us with a sound mind; he didn’t make us with a mind of worry and stress. Okay so I’m gonna end on this. I don’t claim to be perfect – I’m human and still have trouble at times with worry and stress. But I truly believe that if we do as these scriptures tell us we will be well on the road to a full life. One of huge blessing, consistent learning, growing in wisdom and strength in the knowledge of God and being vigilante in numbering our days being sure we make each day count for the kingdom. Psalm 90:12 “So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Friends I don’t expect this note to give you all the answers – I’m not a scholar nor am I an amazing writer. I just hope that you will go away after reading this and look in the word for yourself, pray about it and just trust God and live for Him with Him and in the knowledge of Him. Be Blessed.