Over in a Blink

It’s said that the tick of the clock is relative.

It’s true. It is. Time elapses at different rates.

Don’t believe it? Sit through an interoffice meeting, one where everyone is expected to summarize internal department accountability.

Or in a dentist’s office, when an emergency delays your appointment by an hour.

Or in snarled traffic, or anyplace you don’t want to be.

Then imagine something incredibly fun, a day at the park, dinner with friends, or a favorite video game with your son or daughter.

It’s over in a blink.

Has time really run at a different rate? Of course not. It’s our perception that changes. When we are happy and content, and we anticipate and enjoy the upcoming moments, the seconds seem to click by faster and faster, until soon, they are all gone.

How will our children look back on their childhood and the life they build from it? As something they endured, or did it go by in a blink?

Numbers 6:24-26 gives us an excellent bedtime prayer to end each day.

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”

Within this short passage, we’re invoking six promises upon our children.

The Lord will bless them. He will bring about good things in their lives.
He will keep them, watching over them each day.
His face will shine upon them, lifting them above the trials they face.
He will be gracious to them, remembering his love toward them when they stumble.
He will never lose sight of how much he cares for them, wherever they wander.
His peace will overshadow their days, and they will feel his presence in the choices and decisions they make.

From a child’s view, life seems wide open. It stretches forever, and it will never end.

In their final days, they’ll feel it’s over in a blink.

It’s what they experience in the middle that counts. Let’s do our part to make our children’s lives good ones.

God’s biggest slice of trust is the children he places in our care. Let’s treat them well.

Code: FGO.J.08.18b.vp.esv

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