The title of a recent sermon at my church was “In the fullness of time”. When the title flashed up on the screen above the pastor’s head as he began, an hourglass appeared as well. The main thrust of the sermon was that Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem wasn’t a result of happenstance or a change of plan on God’s part, but the culmination of God’s delicately orchestrated eternal plan to send salvation to us. Pastor Troy had barely begun when his first point struck me as significant. You see, since my last birthday, I’ve had moments of angst. Somehow, the number associated with that birthday has been the periodic cause of an urgent ticking sound in my head, one that reminds me that with each day my time here on earth is winding down. It’s not that I’m ill or decrepit, and because of my Hope in Jesus, I’m not fearful, but yet, I’m just seeing life in all its finite glory more than ever before. I recognize that my own hour glass has a dwindling supply of sand in the top, and I’d been considering that as an indication that my time was running out. Expired! Kaput!
But that’s not how the sermon went. From Troy’s perspective, the diminishing supply of sand in the top of the hourglass doesn’t indicate that the time is over, but instead it celebrates completion. Accomplished! Completed! When the preparation hourglass ran out and Jesus appeared as a child in the manger, it was a new beginning, not an end. Again, years later when He was in agony hanging on a cross and whispered “It is finished” as the last grains in THAT hourglass dropped, there was cause for celebration of a job well done.
What a refreshing perspective, especially for a person (like me) who needs to feel as if each day has seen me accomplish something and who adores making lists so that I can check off completed tasks and measure how far I’ve come. What an encouraging way to approach the days ahead. The urgency I feel can be channeled from trepidation and a little nagging dread to joy and determination and hope that I can use each moment, each grain of sand, to add to my preparations for what comes next. And what will come next? No more hourglasses, just an eternity with God.
