Is Time the Enemy?

In the next few days I will be facing the anniversary of the day Colette left us for Heaven… I inch towards that day reluctantly. It’s one of those days I wouldn’t mind sleeping straight through. And yet, I know I must face it. I must live every one of those twenty-four hours regardless of the sorrow they bring me. For a while, time will hurt me. It will drag me, pulling me forward. It will usher me into the presence of a day I dread. It will compel me to come face to face with agonizing memories.

But time, you see, is not always my enemy. It isn’t even really my enemy now. Time is merely dragging me forward, past a painful landmark, and onward to something glorious.

Every day I’m drawing nearer to the reunion. Every day, I’m closing the gap. Not too long ago, I read again the story of Jesus raising a widow’s only son from the dead. As you can imagine, my heart always leans in anytime Jesus is dealing with a grieving mother. My ears are attentive to His words. In this story recorded in Luke 7:11-16, Jesus meets a funeral procession. He watches as a mother walks beside the coffin of her only son.

The Bible makes a point of telling us, “When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her…” Our Savior’s heart was touched by the sorrow of this grieving mother, and His hands could not be still. In a moment, He did the impossible. He told the mother to stop crying and raised up her son. Jesus then “presented him to his mother.” In my Bible that last phrase is underlined, and beside it is written “Oh, that day is coming. He will present her to me again…” There is coming a day. There is coming a moment when He will tell me as well, “Enough tears, enough anniversaries of loss, enough sorrow. Here she is! Here she is!”

You see, time is not my enemy. Time is not the enemy of any follower of Jesus Christ. Time doesn’t rob us. Time doesn’t kill. It leads to life. It leads to wholeness, to reunion, to restoration, to joy. There are moments when time must lead us through and past painful scenarios; but Believer, time is leading us beyond these scenarios. It is leading us to the day, that glorious day, when time itself will leave us.

To the moment when time “shall be no more,” when “sorrow shall cease,” and when “God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.” Followers of Christ, let time take you there. Let the minutes take your hands. Let the hours bear you. Let the days carry you on. Every moment closer. Every second nearer! Oh, praise God, time is taking us there.