When I was a child it seemed like the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas took an eternity to pass. Each day seemed to go by at a glacial pace. As I have gotten older, though, things have changed. Now, it seems that the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas flies by in no time at all. It feels as though you barely have time to finish the Thanksgiving leftovers before, not only Christmas but New Year’s day as well, have gone by.

I think that, as we age, we begin to measure time in view of that which has already past. To a child of 5 or 6 a year is a long time, after all, it amounts to 16 ½% to 20% of the time they have been alive. To a 50 year old, however, a year amounts to only 2% of their life. As we age we begin to realize just how brief life really is when viewed from the perspective of age.

The Bible has quite a lot to say on the subject of the brevity of life. In James 4:14 we read, “whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” And in 1 Peter 1:24 the apostle Peter quotes from Isaiah 40:6-8 and says, “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower fails away, but the word of the LORD endures forever.”

When seen in view of the eternity that awaits us, life is indeed brief. We should spend the time we have remaining to prepare for that eternity.