The Time Machine
Did you ever read the book, The Time Machine by H.G. Wells? Perhaps you saw the movie too. What a great story. Imagine getting into a machine and traveling through time.
Two questions come to mind:
Question 1. If you could go back in time, what would you change?
Question 2. If you could go forward in time, what would you do?
The first question might be a little easier to grasp because we have been there. I don’t know about you, but there are some definite points in time that I would want to change. The only problem is, I made so many bone-head decisions in my life, I am not sure quite where to begin, but there are a couple that were life changing decisions…and not in a positive way. I would probably start there.
I think we all have points in our past that we could pinpoint that we would fix if we could. But what about the future? What would you do? That is such an unknown because we haven’t had the opportunity to have been down that road before. So, it is totally speculation at this point.
Lesson 1. We can’t go back in time and fix anything, as much as we would like to, so let go of the past. If you are constantly living in the past with regrets and unforgiveness, let it go. You will never move forward with your eyes in the rearview mirror.
Lesson 2. We can’t go into the future, so quit worrying about it. That does no good. All you have is today. Live it and just concentrate on today. You can make plans for the future and the activities of today will determine the outcome of tomorrow to a great extent, but there are always detours that will come that we cannot foresee. Don’t worry about what may or may not happen. Worry does no good and will steal the joy you have today.
Lesson 3. We do have a time machine. It is called Today. We all travel in it together. Some of us use it wisely and steward it to get the most out of it, and then some of us miss it all together because we are stuck in the past or stuck worrying about the future. We all have 24 hours in a day. No more, no less.
How are you using your time machine? This is probably one of the most precious gifts we have been entrusted with. Don’t waste today. The older you get, the more you realize how fast time really goes. In a blink of an eye, we are here and gone. This is but a fraction of a second in eternity. Make today matter. Make your time worthwhile. Make a difference with your life. It will be gone before you know it. We do not know what tomorrow brings or if we will even have tomorrow.
My hope is that you learn to really live in today. There is great freedom, peace, contentment, and joy in fully living in the moment. That is called Shalom! May you find and fully experience Shalom today.
Dan Skognes