Where has the time gone?

Everyone talks about how much faster time goes by as we get older. It doesn't, of course; it just seems like it. There are still 86,400 seconds in each day; and each one takes exactly one second to pass.

No longer and no shorter.

So why does it seem like time flies by now when it seemed to take forever as a child? Well time, of course, is relative. I'm not talking about Relative Time as defined by Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity; I'm referring to the apparent passage of time relative to our whole life. 

Six years doesn't seem like a very long time. That is, of course, unless you are six years old; in which case it is a lifetime. Six years just doesn't seem like a big deal to me anymore now that I'm in my fifties.

It seems like only yesterday that Diane and I wept as we waved goodbye to Joseph outside his dorm for his Freshman year at Bob Jones University. He looked so young to be left there alone. Now, nearly six years later, we are preparing to head back to Greenville, South Carolina for one final time in a couple of weeks  to watch Matthew walk in his Commencement Exercises at Bob Jones. 

Six years.

Where has the time gone?

I occasionally look back at the photographs of those early trips. The boys looked so young. They were just little boys, after all. It didn't seem possible that first Joseph, and then Matthew, would be ready to head off to college. 

They were each eager to begin a new phase of their lives when that day arrived for them. 

Diane and I were fearful that we hadn't done enough to prepare them.

For twenty years we had poured our hearts and lives into the two little boys God had blessed us with and suddenly we reached a point where we had to let them go; first Joseph, then Matthew. 

Where had the time gone? Wasn't it only yesterday that we held them as newborn babes? Perhaps just hours ago that we comforted them when they skinned a knee while learning to ride a bike? Certainly it couldn't have been long ago at all that we were filled with pride as they graduated from high school.

But somewhere along the way, those little boys became young men - young men who have made us very proud. As I reflect on where that time has gone, I am overwhelmed with my thoughts of those days.

Thoughts of them helping to care for Grandpop as he lived his final days with us.

Thoughts of them being rock solid in their support for Diane as she battled through surgery and chemotherapy for her cancer.

Thoughts of them serving in a final act of love for Grandmother as they carried her casket from the church to the grave.

Thoughts of them continuing to lovingly spend time with their ninety year old Granny; even if it's just watching a ballgame on television.

Thoughts of them becoming Godly young men.

Just a year ago, I cried as I watched Joseph walk across the platform to shake Dr. Jones' hand and receive his degree. In a couple of short weeks, I fully expect that I will cry again as I watch Matthew do the same.

I'm not sure where the time has gone. But I thank God for the privilege of being a witness to the amazing transformation He has made in their lives in that short time that I could call them mine.