THE FLEETING PASSAGE OF TIME AND LIFE

WINTER BUFFALO BREATH

Kenny Chesney has a great country song titled “Don’t Blink” about the fleeting passage of time.  Of course, it does seem to fly by faster when we’re enjoying ourselves instead of going to the dentist where I’m headed shortly.  If you Google “fleeting time” you will find a plethora of quotes on the subject.  And those observations cast a wide net over time and humanity.  You have to believe that every human being that ever drew a breath on this planet has easily experienced fleeting time, especially since modern man invented the clock.  But even earlier in time man watched the years, seasons and days slip by without ceasing. 

Only our creator has been recognized as being timeless, while we mortal beings with frontal lobes understand that our beginnings have endings that arrive all too soon.  Our pets wake up each morning living constantly in the present moment without the concern for endings.  We could all take that lesson from them, understanding that life does have a stop date, but with the promise of another spiritual life.

I ran across a saying attributed to a native American, Chief Crowfoot, to illustrate the fleeting aspect of life:

“What is life?

It is the flash of a firefly in the night.

It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.

It is the little shadow that runs across the grass,

And loses itself in the sunset.”

We need to make peace with the passing of time and embrace each waking moment we have without knowing exactly how much sand is left in the hourglass.  Using our time wisely and intentionally also includes wasting some of it to recharge and refresh.  If we can learn from the past and plan for the future, our present moments can be filled with gratitude, fearless hope, healthy relationships and new possibilities.  

 

AUTUMN EQUINOX

 

EVENING SUNSET, KIAWAH, SC

"Life is the little shadow that runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset."

--Chief Crowfoot

Next Saturday marks the Autumn Equinox for this year and the first day of fall.  That implies that both daytime and nighttime will be equal as the nights will become longer than our days.  The hot and humid days of summer are waning, abdicating to northerly breezes that are cooler and dryer, a prophetic breath of autumn.  It’s a time when the sun seamlessly retreats earlier over the horizon and autumn leaves awaken to their true colors as green chlorophyl also retreats back into mother earth’s womb.  The colorful leaves wave goodbye to summer on their journey back into the stardust of all matter.

The annual seasons move from spring to summer to fall to winter as we complete one more trip around the sun and add one more candle to our birthday cake. The temperatures can rapidly go from 90 to 55 faster than spotting a speed trap!  We’re born dependent, experience childhood, grow to independent adulthood, then ease into senior citizenship and begin to circle back. Generation follows generation, one season follows another, and the years fly swiftly by, filled with happiness and tears. Only time will tell if it was time well spent.

Perhaps at this particular time of the year, all creation serves as a reminder that this life not only has beginnings but also endings for every living organism and even every material object.  It reminds us to strive to live wisely and with a positive intention so that our lives matter and we won’t squander a priceless opportunity.  The imminent fallow time of winter on the horizon reminds us to live a life that will enable us to look back on the winter of our life and not be sad because it’s over, but to smile because it happened.

The lowering rays of the sun on the evening horizon have begun their disappearing act earlier each evening.  Relentless ocean waves continue their assault on the beaches and lengthening rays render staring westward a blinding ordeal.  Ocean breezes calm down as the night cools to sweater weather.  Warm deserts and hot coffee on the ocean pier are a welcome treat after a seafood dinner and a career afternoon out in nature on the golf course.

Dark shadows silently descend on the motionless land as gentle rain drops once again quench the thankful earth.  Another circle of life has marked the earth’s passage around the sun.  And in the midst of the peaceful calm, God whispers through the stillness, “Well done, rest and be at peace; the cycle of life circles on.”