I can’t believe its September already!

 

Time has kept marching on ever since the very beginning. Every year it happens the same. Yet, every year we seem to be caught by surprise. Is there something within us that rails at the thought of our days moving forward?

 

Time moving forward means change. As each year passes, we archive it into the pages of history, knowing that we’ll never have that time again. 2017, which seemed so new and fresh in January, is heading towards its end. I don’t know about you, but once I realise the year’s in its last leg, the months just fly by. It will be 2018 before we know it. And what does this mean for us?

 

The new year holds promise and new possibilities. As life progresses, we can look forward to many things – maybe a new job or a new relationship. Maybe a new addition to your little family or putting down a deposit for a home (I’m hoping for at least one of those next year). We can look back and see God’s blessings and goodness this year, and look forward in anticipation to what he’ll do next.

 

But we’re also one year older, we’re one year closer to our final breath.

 

It’s little wonder that we push this out of our thoughts. Our own mortality is always hovering over us, but for many of us, it’s something we try to ignore. Realising the year is in its final months tends to bring that vague reality just a little closer. I’ve started to notice wrinkles as I look into the mirror. Only laugh lines, thankfully, but they’re a reminder that I will continue to grow older and can never return to the years now gone.

 

It’s almost enough to send me down into a melancholy state. But yet, I can look at the passing years with hope and resolve. Because of God.

 

God, he is the author of life.

He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

He created this world and he sustains my every breath.

He has ordained all of my days before they come to pass.

He works all things for good, each happening and event is woven into his tapestry.

He is the Lord of history.

He is the Saviour of humankind.

He has sent Jesus into our broken world to reconcile us and lead us home.

Through Jesus, he brings hope and peace and joy into each day.

My life has a driving purpose, to shine his light into the darkness and to make my Saviour known.

And, when this earthly life is through, he has prepared a place of eternal rest for me.

I will see my Saviour face to face.

 

So, I know that 2017 will soon be finished and can never be relived. And, in time, 2018 will also be given over to the pages of history. Life will go on, with all it’s blessings and tragedies. Time will keep passing, we’ll keep getting older and closer to death. How will we choose to take this reality? Will we try to ignore it? Will we let it bring us down to despair? Or will we stand confident in God, entrusting our future to Jesus and looking in hope to that day when we will finally see him face to face?

 

I live this life for God. He has ordained all of my days before they come to pass, and he sustains me as I walk through this world. And being one day closer to my final breath; well, that also means I’m one day closer to that blessed time where I’ll see my Lord and Saviour face to face.