Time Does Fly

This post is originating from the Volunteer state of Tennessee where I am preparing to officiate for my niece's wedding in Norris, Tennessee, Saturday evening. It is always a privilege to share with a couple in the commitment of marriage...even more so with family, I suppose these moments are reality checks about the aging process, both for my niece, Holly, and for me. My sister Karen married Holly's dad, Michael, when Holly was a young girl. She, her twin sister Heather, and their brother Doug became part of our family and through the years we have seen them grow and mature. In reflecting on Karen and Michael's wedding nearly seventeen years ago, I also remember that Cindy was eight months pregnant with Clayton at the time...another remembrance that calls me to acknowledge the passing of time.

If these walks down memory lane weren't enough to convince me that I have aged, another experience today drove that home to me. I had just gotten a haircut and was preparing to pay, when the stylist gave me a price for the haircut that seemed a bit cheaper than I expected. As I reached into my wallet, she cheerily offered, "You are a senior, aren't you?" Now the color and number of hairs on my head may have shouted "senior" to her, but I guess her greatest offense was the certainty with which she made her judgement. When I firmly responded, "no," I suffered not only the indignity of paying $2 more for the haircut, but of her weak attempt to correct her faux pas as she said, "Of course you're not, you're much too young." The insincerity in her voice added a few years to my already bruised pride. "Come back and see us next time you're in town," she carelessly offered as I turned to walk out the door, but my senior ears had already tuned her out as I was left to ponder the brevity of my remaining days.

Yes, time does fly, as the old saying goes. The sometimes cranky, probably senior adult writer of the book of Ecclesiastes noted, "to everything, there is a season." Whether it is watching loved ones grow and mark time through the passages of life, or coming face to face with your and other's assessments of your own journey, one cannot ignore the changes these "seasons" bring. Other than a receding hair line, the one constant for me in the midst of these changing seasons, is the power and presence of Almighty God. The Psalmist reminds us of the significance of an ever-present God as he writes in the nintieth Psalm, "Before the mountains were born and before you created the earth and the world, you are God. You have always been, and you will always be." Praise God that in the seasons of human life, where the joy of family celebrations are mixed with the reality of time's relentless march, God is present, celebrating with us, walking beside us, never wavering in love and affection, no matter what each day, year, or decade bring.

Jim Abernathy