The Speed of Life

Since childhood, I’ve always had an interest in measurements—quantifying everything by some value or another: the height of a building, the speed of an aircraft, the distance to the closest star, and how long it would take to reach it.

Fortunately, for me, the speed of light has been measured already. It’s about 186,282 miles per second, and it would take 4.24 years to reach our nearest star at this speed. However, our current understanding of science says that such a speed cannot be reached by an object with mass, unless you’re an angel, of course.

Unfortunately, unlike the speed of light, the speed of life cannot be measured so easily. It varies at all hours of the day and is a fundamental constant in all of our lives. It’s the way time seems to hasten and accelerate due to the continual obligations of the moment, along with the growing challenges we face. It’s the way we pace ourselves throughout our waking hours. The ebbs and flows, fluctuating like an oscillating wave, sometimes increasing in frequency and at other times decreasing.

For me, most days fly by at a blistering clip, but a few are mercifully slow and perhaps even melancholy. As a good steward would, I always try to be mindful about making the most of every moment because I will never have that moment back again. So how do I measure and quantify my daily work? I measure it not by the numbers and the speeds, but by my deeds.

In the quest to get from point A to point B, I sometimes think I’m moving too fast and missing the nuances along the way—perhaps even the lessons God has placed before me. The pleasures of love, the fragrance of a rose, the magnificence of the sunrise, and the crescent of a moonlit night. Deep in thought, I reminisce about the mountains of Colorado and being awakened by the brisk, frosted air. It was a fabulous feast for the senses whose clarity was softened only by a thin layer of white clouds hovering just beneath the frozen mountain peaks. I could have stared for hours at such beauty and meditated on God—if only I had taken the time.

“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” Romans 1:20.

“But He answered and said to them, ‘I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.’” Luke 19:40.

Many rewards can come in the stillness of a leisurely day, a Bible study by the lake, a Sabbath with Jesus, and a walk in the park.

A Jesus weekend perhaps awaits. A cedar cabin in the hills, no phone, no television, no Internet. My companions would be a Bible, my spouse, and time to see with clarity the great mountains before me.

Sharing Jesus with someone special is the most valuable way to spend a day indeed.

“Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.’” John 8:12.