He is like a tree planted by streams of water Psalm 1:3
I like trees. But I wish they'd grow faster. I want to plant a shade today and have shade tomorrow. Yet even the tree planted by water will take time to grow.
I have a friend who was telling me about something she'd heard on a television program about our brain development and the perception of time. We all know time gets faster as we get older. I was at a grocery store the other day and thought why are they roasting chili? They only do that in August and that was just last month... oops. A year went by and I hardly knew it! Anyway, my friend was explaining to me how we are like trees. The inside rings are thick and if there has been three years of growth each ring will make up 1/3 of the tree (about). But if it is 50 years old each ring will make up only 1/50 of the tree (or there abouts). So our brain knows as we age, the percentage of this last year was only 1/33 of my life while my baby who is 13 months 1/1 of her life-- the longest year ever! No wonder the first three years are so formative!
I was pondering this in relation to the untimely death of children. A young child who dies of cancer or a chronic disease can often have time to ponder the shortness of their life. As adults it is almost unbearable to think of the years they were cheated. Yet to the child they seem to know that their rings may not be many but they still make up 1/1. A 99 year old and a 9 year old's brain will still only be 99/99=9/9=1/1=1. Nobody is cheated. Mathmatically we all get the same 1 life. How interesting our brains compensate for this by the perceived speeding up of time.
I remember pondering my life as a child. Never even thinking of turning 11 years old much less graduating from high school, college or having a family. Because I really thought I'd die before the time came. Where has the time gone? Did I invest it for eternity or squander it... Now is the time to become purposeful. Now is the time to make this year, though its only a small percentage of the whole (for adults), a year that wraps the rest in a protective thick ring that can stand the storms. The time will come when we will give an account. And the life which we lived as 1 whole person will be judged. My Savior has already paid for the squandering and ill used parts, creating a new life to be lived for Him. A chance to begin again, be born again with a new mind that views time as eternal and makes those rings formed on earth barely noticable... but again the formative years are essiential. 99 years on earth is a formative time for people to choose where they wish to spend eternity. We can choose Him, or not.
I have a friend who was telling me about something she'd heard on a television program about our brain development and the perception of time. We all know time gets faster as we get older. I was at a grocery store the other day and thought why are they roasting chili? They only do that in August and that was just last month... oops. A year went by and I hardly knew it! Anyway, my friend was explaining to me how we are like trees. The inside rings are thick and if there has been three years of growth each ring will make up 1/3 of the tree (about). But if it is 50 years old each ring will make up only 1/50 of the tree (or there abouts). So our brain knows as we age, the percentage of this last year was only 1/33 of my life while my baby who is 13 months 1/1 of her life-- the longest year ever! No wonder the first three years are so formative!
I was pondering this in relation to the untimely death of children. A young child who dies of cancer or a chronic disease can often have time to ponder the shortness of their life. As adults it is almost unbearable to think of the years they were cheated. Yet to the child they seem to know that their rings may not be many but they still make up 1/1. A 99 year old and a 9 year old's brain will still only be 99/99=9/9=1/1=1. Nobody is cheated. Mathmatically we all get the same 1 life. How interesting our brains compensate for this by the perceived speeding up of time.
I remember pondering my life as a child. Never even thinking of turning 11 years old much less graduating from high school, college or having a family. Because I really thought I'd die before the time came. Where has the time gone? Did I invest it for eternity or squander it... Now is the time to become purposeful. Now is the time to make this year, though its only a small percentage of the whole (for adults), a year that wraps the rest in a protective thick ring that can stand the storms. The time will come when we will give an account. And the life which we lived as 1 whole person will be judged. My Savior has already paid for the squandering and ill used parts, creating a new life to be lived for Him. A chance to begin again, be born again with a new mind that views time as eternal and makes those rings formed on earth barely noticable... but again the formative years are essiential. 99 years on earth is a formative time for people to choose where they wish to spend eternity. We can choose Him, or not.
posted by sun2maro at 7:58 AM
