Time Ticks Away

I’m a clock lover.  No matter what type of store I enter, I seem drawn to clocks.  I have no idea why, but they comfort me with the tick, tick steadiness of their voice always in the background.  Guests in my kitchen are fascinated by the clock on the wall saying, “ What a wonderful old clock!” and ask, “Do you tire of the noise?”  I usually laugh and tell them to listen closer and they’ll hear the one in the next room.  It sits on the mantle and has a different rhythm.  As does the large very old clock in the front hall when it is wound.  Three distinctly metered ticks of time going at once.  When you focus on one, the others fade.  My two children have grown accustomed to the sound and it reminds them of home.  Time ticking away.  

This morning as I read in Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, I was stopped by a word. One word that made me realize how very much I needed to spend time with it. In this devotion book, the author writes as if God is speaking directly to the reader.  To me. Here is the sentence that grabbed my attention this morning: 

“Thank Me for this day of life, recognizing that it is a precious unrepeatable gift.”

Unrepeatable.  That’s the word.  Today is unrepeatable.  Never to happen again just this way.  Not like the movie, that shows an ungrateful man repeating the same day over and over. We don't have that luxury.  There will be no “do-over” as kids cry loudly in outdoor games.  No- today is unrepeatable.

What if it were? If it were like my DVR where I could instantly back up and hit play again?  Ah, but the DVR only records what’s already happened.  It can’t change it.  Most of us who might long for a do-over want to make some changes.  In the way we reacted, the words said, the person ignored, the complaining spirit we nursed all day.  What would your do-over DVR change about yesterday?

I think I’ll post that one sentence on a card where I can see it every morning.  I need to realize that Today is a gift to be thankful for no matter the circumstances.  It’s the only Today I have. 

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. - Hebrews 13:8