The Speed of Yesterday

Pavement Ends Ministry

The Speed of Yesterday

At five years old, the days seemed to crawl by. He didn't think Christmas would ever get here. As a seventeen-year-old senior, he couldn't wait for graduation. At twenty-two, she said yes, but the year-long engagement seemed to last forever. In his twenty-fifth year, the nine months he waited to meet his baby was interminable. As a young man, his tomorrows were always slow in coming.

Then middle age breezed in. While his children grew, he often attempted the impossible task of being in two places at once. Forty-hour work weeks often required fifty-five hours. Vacations, when they were not postponed, seemed to be something to endure not enjoy. Today, well today it seems like the beginning and end run together. He hasn't noticed it yet, but he's not waiting for tomorrow anymore.

Old! He wonders, when did I get old? He remembers things he did yesterday, but wait, that was twenty years ago. Now, he watches as his children try to be in two places at once. His house is not one of those two places. High school reunions, well they happen mostly in the funeral home these days. And last week was their fifty-fifth wedding anniversary. He celebrated by putting flowers on her grave. He knows now that life travels at the speed of yesterday.

From Psalms 39 we are taught to say “Lord, make me to know that my end is near. Teach me the length of my days so that I may know how frail I am. You have made my days short. And my age is as nothing before You. Every man at his best state is but a vapor. Every man walks about like a shadow. We busy ourselves in vain. We pile up riches, but we don't know who will gather them. So now Lord what do I wait for? You Lord. My hope only is in You.”