I am fascinated with time. Not simply in the sense that there never seems to be enough of it, but rather the means of leveraging its properties. I am fascinated that we only ever have this one point in time with which to do anything. It’s as if the eternal nature of our souls, while suspended in these earthly bodies must focus the entire singularity of eternity along this thin rail we call time, from the first heartbeat to the last.
All at the same time, we are on a one-dimensional line, going in a single direction, and yet only ever at one single point on that line! Further, we have this fantastic capability to remember – which allows us to exchange that single point where we are and somehow be transported back to a previous one – in both our minds and hearts. Have you ever seen footage of a World War II veteran recall his experiences from decades earlier? To see him moved to tears at the memory of friends killed as if it just happened?Similarly, we possess the ability to predict and anticipate future events based on past experiences – which can alter our course.
But what good is any of that if we don’t capture the raw power of the moment? Even more than “Carpe Diem”, seizing the moment is seizing eternity! How alarming then it is to consider the squandering of the moment!
In James 4:13-17, embedded in the context of humility, the Lord puts it this way:
“Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.”
When we watch movies we usually see a character’s fate pivot on a single decision. Many of us live our lives the same way, as if at some defining moment we will have to make that fate-rendering decision. If we believe God, though, that moment is now. Right now. It is always now. If we are waiting for something, the moment will surely be lost. If we embrace every moment, then the collective thread of time is woven inseparably into our character and soul. We either choose to be led by God or led away from God by not choosing.
The good news is God invites us to make every choice and live every moment with Him. We are not cast out alone on this course. When you consider that God is there for you at every single heartbeat of your life, providing wisdom, encouragement, correction, and all of it held together with unimaginable depth of love, it begins to become apparent that chance need not ever enter the picture.
My Maker says that I am mist. How then shall I make the most of this mist? As a mist, might I be missed upon the blinking of an eye, or might I refresh upon a face, or dazzle, be it ever so briefly when lit? Perhaps I may cling to that around me and persist for just a moment longer, like morning dew.
If I am to be a mist, then “Amen!” May I be driven then, not by storms, but by the will of God. May I be the swirling illuminated spray that delights the Lord. May I be no more and no less that what pleases He who made me and purposed me to be. By reflecting His light, may I bear witness to the beauty of creation, nobility of purpose, and truth of life.
– Eric Smith
shared from Antiskeptic.org 
