Where Does the Time Go?

Well another year has come and gone. It's 2012 already. I can't believe how quickly the last year flew by. I am reminded of a poem by Henry Twells, written on a clock in Chester Cathedral:

When as a child, I laughed and wept,

Time crept.

When as a youth, I dreamt and talked,

Time walked.

When I became a full-grown man,

Time ran.

When older still I daily grew,

Time flew.

Soon I shall find on travelling on-

Time gone.

O Christ, wilt Thou have saved me then?

Amen.

Henry Twells lived between 1823 and 1900, so he wasn't feeling the effects of our modern electronic age. Our time on Earth is short, no matter when and where we live.

Every New Year's eve Holland turns into a  massive fireworks display. For the few days leading up to December 31st, shops sell a mind-boggling variety of things that sparkle, pop, whizz, hiss, and boom. For three days, our local bicycle shop stops selling bicycles in favour of little bundles of gunpowder. We bought ours from a garden centre.

Normally, we don't buy fireworks. As a parent I am possibly a little bit too careful with my kids. I know what fireworks can do to little fingers so would rather leave it to the professionals. Besides which, there's really no need for us to buy our own because everybody else seems to spend a fortune on the stuff. Each year, if the weather is good, we climb onto the roof and watch as the sky lights up in a spectacular display of colour and light. This year I relented and we splashed out on a small selection for the princely sum of fifty Euros.

The few rockets and candles in our "family pack" lasted about ten minutes and we were left with about three hundred firecrackers, each resembling a little stick of dynamite. After the novelty wore off, we had about two hundred and eighty left over, so we spent the next half hour performing what amounted to a series of science experiments. We made a small fire and stood watching the flames. My son commented how ironic it was that we were having so much fun with a our handful of fireworks while, all around us, the sky was filled with spectacular explosions, each one of which probably cost more than our entire budget for the evening. 

As we stood watching our little bonfire, it struck me how temporary life on this planet really is. One day, everything I know will be gone. My children, my wife, my house, my life. No wonder people feel the need to party like it's the end of the word. I think that, deep down inside, they know that everything must come to an end, and so they party as hard as they can while they can. If only people would understand that this is not all there is. When the clock stops on each and every one of us, eternity begins and we will realize the importance of the choices we made during our brief sojourn on planet Earth. God's love is infinite and we get the option to spend eternity enjoying that love. How exciting is that?

The end for us here on Earth is not really the end but the beginning, because where we are going, we won't need clocks.

A note of encouragement

I’m wondering if there are any authors reading this blog who feel they could do with a little extra encouragement right now. Some of you might be riding high on a wave of writing success – perhaps you have a book due for release this year and other exciting speaking and writing opportunities happening. But perhaps some of you are still waiting for that elusive publishing contract or struggling to finish that work that is there in your head but just doesn’t seem to want to take shape on the page. Still others of you might have that publishing contract but are hard-pressed to know how best to promote your book and achieve better sales figures. There is no doubt that, alongside the joy and fulfilment of being an author, the challenges and frustrations abound.

Yes, we need encouragement – but I have found I often need to ask God to open my eyes and ears to see and hear it! It might be my strange personality, but sometimes I find myself so ready to hear the negative comments and allow the difficulties inherent in the whole writing journey to drag me down. I can even miss completely the encouraging word someone is trying to say to me by listening instead to that cynical voice in my head that says, ‘They can’t mean that! That can’t possibly be true about your writing!’ Do you, like me, need to choose to focus on God and receive his encouragement more often, both directly and through others?

I love reading God’s word each day. I keep reading until I believe I have found that particular message of challenge or encouragement or comfort God has for me at that point and I try to meditate on and interact with that word as my day unfolds. For example, recently I read the following words from Isaiah 51:16 that are particularly apt for those of us who speak and write:

I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand – I who set the heavens in place, who laid the foundations of the earth, and who say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’

As God’s people in 2011, how encouraging it is to know God will put his words in our mouths as we listen to him and that we can then allow them to flow out to others!

But I believe God also delights to use friends and family – even strangers – to bring unexpected snippets of encouragement our way. In one day recently, I received a phone call and two emails that had all the hallmarks of a loving, understanding God about them! First off, the phone call was from a ninety-seven year old lady I have met only once who had finished reading my third novel ‘Laura’ and, in her words, ‘just had to phone me’ and say how much she had enjoyed it. Then an email arrived from another lady I have met only once who had just read my first two novels, ‘Heléna’ and ‘All the Days of My Life’ straight through in a couple of days and couldn’t put them down. This email was followed soon after by one from a lady in New Zealand, who had gone to endless trouble to try to get hold of my second novel, having enjoyed my first so much, and finally was contacting me here in Australia to send it to her. I was touched by her keenness and perseverance and greatly encouraged yet again.

So as I write this, I am praying God will open your eyes and ears too to receive the encouragement you need for your journey. May 2011 be a year of great joy and fulfilment as you write what God has laid on your heart and gifted you to write!

Jo-Anne Berthelsen lives in Sydney, Australia, and has four published novels, ‘Heléna’, ‘All the Days of My Life’, ‘Laura’ and ‘Jenna’. For more information, please visit her website, http://www.jo-anneberthelsen.com/.