Time. It’s a strange phenomenon that we just flow right through.

Sometimes, it drags as we go through those mundane things that we wish we could just rush to get onto something else. Then other times, we blink, and it’s been five years.

How we perceive time is very different from one another.

Now, when time seems to have ceased, we just now realized, “Wow, has it already been a month for us?” For some, it’s been longer than that.

Years…

Months…

Weeks…

Days…

Hours…

Minutes…

Seconds…

Time ticks on.

How do we fill it?

Do we worry and wonder what if’s of the past?

Or do we become more and more curious about the future?

This past week, I read “The Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang. Honestly, I picked it this week because my song of the week “On the Nature of Daylight” was chosen and my YouTube video used that music [albeit went with a different theme that had to do with remembering and respecting fallen heroes who sacrifice everything to save humanity]…all inspired and discovered by the movie Arrival.

Time was really different in this story. It was not linear. One knew what was past, present, and future.

And that is so hard for our minds to comprehend, because everything has a beginning, middle, and end.

Except one thing…

God is eternal.

This discussion we have had in one of my classes off and on this semester [well, since we were physically on campus, now unfortunately, we have not had the opportunity to do this as much in an online setting], and it really makes one want to stop and really ask all of these questions:

What is time?

What is eternity?

What is everlasting?

Some day, we will understand.

One thing that stood out to me in this story, and arguably one of the biggest plot twists in cinematic history that rips your heart out, is the reveal of non-linear time. Seeing the future, everything is out of order, but known. Yet, nothing will change.

If you knew the future…

If you had the power to change it, or keep it the same…

What would you do?

That’s definitely food for thought that can keep you up at night trying to wrap your brain around. I know, because I do it all the time.

So many what if’s, and yet, I have gotten better at acceptance. That thing that takes away the anxiety of it all.

Yes, we are living in dangerous times right now, full of uncertainty, which is one of the scariest things. Time keeps pushing us through, when we don’t want to face this, we just want to wake up from this nightmare and hug our loved ones again with no consequences.

But acceptance.

I accept this moment in time, as a part of God’s perfect plan.

He is in control.

He still loves us.

So we just have to accept and love our neighbors and our God.