About Time

I recently watched a movie I found in the Redbox rental unit: About Time.  This movie isn't a Christian movie or even one that is on a family's "safe" list for kids, due to adult situations, but the story is compelling.  

The premise of the movie is a father who shares with his newly grown son that the "men of this family can travel in time."  He goes on to say they can only go back in the time of their own experiences and relive specific moments of their own life.  His grown son experiences disbelief until he goes into a dark place, clenches his fists, and imagines himself back to the moment he wishes he could do over.  

Wouldn't you like to do a moment of life over again?  What if you could change some pivotal bad decision you made, either by action or inaction?  What if you could relive that perfect day over and over?  I found myself getting caught up in the story, as I could see the real relationship was in the father's love for his son.  The lesson of the movie was to live each moment of life as the present, without worrying about the future or agonizing over the past.  Each moment is to be lived in the here and now.  

I reviewed Solomon's writings in the book of Ecclesiastes after I watched this movie.  Solomon had learned about the futility of life, and wrote specifically about this.  Most people could recognize the passage about time:

For everything there is a season,

a time for every activity under the heaven.

A time to be born and a time to die.

A time to plant and a time to harvest.

A time to kill and a time to heal.

A time to tear down and a time to build up.

A time to cry and a time to laugh.

A time to grieve and a time to dance. 

A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.

A time to embrace and a time to turn away.

A time to search and a time to quit searching

A time to keep and a time to throw away.

A time to tear and a time to mend.

A time to be quiet and a time to speak.

A time for love and a time for hate.

A time for war and a time for peace.

~Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NLT)

Solomon was dealing with the futility of pursuit.  He realized that there wasn't meaning in chasing after the things of the world.  In the end, the only thing that mattered was the time spent with God.  

This is the relationship we must cultivate and develop.  Every moment of every day we live, we must remember our God who granted it.  Some of the moments of life are very good, and we should thank our God for these moments to we have to cherish.  Other moments we would rather forget, or do over, but these are the moments He chooses to use for our growth.

I'm living for God today.  Are you?