It's easy to get stuck. 

The demands on our time, from family, friends, jobs, school, religion, or whatever, can become great walls, hemming us into a specific and confined circuit or track.  They may seem as mountains, blocking out anything and everything that might exist beyond.  Daily schedules, no matter how urgent or how bland, can become the ultimate reality to us.  Our routine becomes everything in our thinking -- and can become bigger to us than the universe itself.

But while we contemplate our deadlines, our homework, our duties, the clothes we must wear, the time it will take us to get everything done, or whatever; while we contemplate all these things, and all the requirements related to them  (for each demand on our life sprouts multiple supporting demands, as a small weed may produce whole clumps of tangled roots below the surface), while we contemplate all these things, filling our minds with the busy-ness and noise of our lives, the real world continues to spin round and round, as it flies around the sun; and beyond that tiny solar circle the universe remains vast with existence and meaning -- a meaning that often escapes our notice.

For example, we so often occupy ourselves with time. 

But the universe does not think much of time.  Still unfolding as it does from the original word that spoke all physical reality into being, the universe does not see time or feel time.  Pressing, as it does, ever outward into the infinity that has no beginning and no end; and hanging as it does against the backdrop of eternity itself, the universe simply is. 

The universe exists because it pleased God to make it so. 

Look up at the heavens.  They speak of the vastness of the glory of God.  Every star in every galaxy is a developing bloom of light: being born and slowly growing up to full brightness, and then shrinking back again, according to the cycle of life given to it by the Lord of glory.  The universe itself will continue to unfold until the Creator brings everything to a halt.  The day is coming, says the Bible, when all things will roll up like a scroll and vanish away, and the Lord will then make a new heavens and a new earth.

Eternity is the ultimate reality, not the tiny chambers of time we're presently traveling through.  Eternity was here forever before there was a sun and moon to mark the days and hours of our existence.  It was here forever before any physical matter or energy existed.  Our own tiny solar system, and all the stars beyond are but a great clock, a beautiful and intricate clock, marking off the times of our time in this world.  And when those times are all spent, the present universe will be replaced, but eternity itself will continue to remain as it has always been.

It is to that perfect eternity that Christ calls us. 

It is to eternity that the Lord Jesus directs our gaze.  Not because our days in this world are insignificant.  Our time in this place carries great significance -- not for the universe, but for us.  It is while we are here, in this life, surrounded by time and all its reminders, that we learn to pay attention to the voice of God's Spirit.  It is here, in this little world, that we learn how to live, how to love, how to forgive, how to give.

Life is so much more than time and the hectic demands of a day.  It is more than the plans we have made and the tomorrows we reach for.  Life is more than all the revolving and evolving demands of a year, a decade, or even a lifetime.  The demands themselves are not life, but are the trainers of life, as a trestle might be the trainer for an otherwise wild and unruly rose.  We need demands on our lives, for they force us to reach outside ourselves for meaning.  And for deeper meanings we must struggle in our efforts to be free of the harping demands of time.

Jesus said, "All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son -- and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.  Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."   (Matthew 11:28-30)

Jesus never says that He will take away all the demands of daily life.  But He promises to be with us in all the struggles we must face, when we place our faith in Him.  He will give us the wisdom to see beyond the moment, and the ability to take in a better view of the whole reality, the bigger picture.  He also provides us with a place in the eternity to which all of us are traveling, moment by moment.

God is not bound by time in any way.  He exists forever in eternity, and in Him boundless infinity resides.  Yet He visits us here, where time marks our days, and He walks with us here, where each step takes us closer to eternity.  Time does not contain Him or constrain Him, but is rather used of Him to accomplish His will in our lives, and especially in the lives of those who trust the Lord.

God is already here tomorrow, taking care of the things we may worry about today.  When we place our hopes in Him, praying and relying on Him for help, direction and wisdom, He is able to work all things together, weaving together strands of the past with the threads of the future and all the moments and events of this very day, to make a perfect meaning and a completed work of our lives. 

God is able to do anything that pleases Him, and it especially pleases God to bless those who trust in Him.

Our walk with God begins in Jesus Christ.  In Christ, God has provided human beings with all we need for life -- both now and in eternity.  Whoever trusts in Jesus will possess the life of God, provided by the very Spirit of Him who raised up Christ from the dead.

If you’re unfamiliar with what trusting Jesus is all about, you can find out more here.

What you do with each day is up to you.  We all have obligations, expectations and anticipations for each day.  For some the requirements may be few, but for others the demands are many and heavy.  To those willing to trust in Him, Jesus says:

"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.   In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if this were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself; so that where I am, there you may be also.   (John 14:1-3)

Now is the time to prepare yourself for the infinity and eternity that exists everywhere outside the shimmering walls of space and time.  The choice right now is yours. 

But there is One who will decide, in that eternity, what unfolds when time as we know it is finished.  And that One beckons you to look up now and see beyond the expectations of a day, and to begin a new walk -- a walk of faith in God for all time and eternity.

Seeing eternity and living for that greater reality is not something that must wait until this life is done.  Jesus said of God, "He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living."  (Mark 12:27) And anyone who is born again, through genuine faith in Jesus Christ, will come to understand what Jesus meant.

I invite you to think about these things as you make your way through the various demands on your time and your life each day.  Remember that the day at hand is not all there is.  The deadlines you face right now are like the passing shadows that summer clouds might make while floating across a perfectly blue sky.  Those clouds are unable to hold any permanent shape.   So also this world will soon lose it's present form, when the Lord calls a halt to time.  And then the reality of eternity will become evident to all.

Jim