The Rear View Mirror

My favorite comic in this morning's newspaper was Fox Trot. The dad asks if there are any rice cakes in the house in order to deal with his new year resolution of losing weight. The mom says "no" but reminds him he has a couple of days until the new year and he can wait to buy them. Then he explains he's talking about 2012's resolution to lose 15 pounds. She says she thought his resolution was to lose 5 pounds in 2012. He says, it was...turns out he gained ten. The last caption is the mom saying, "How very, very, very sad."

I found it both funny and sad mostly because I can relate to it. There's a lot of truth in that comic. It's ironic how very unresolved most of us are about our resolutions. I don't bother making them anymore. If there's something worth changing I best get about it right then and there. Problem is it's very tempting to give myself a couple more days before embarking on that diet.

Thinking back over this year, some of our experiences seem like ages ago and others feel as fresh as if they'd happened yesterday. It's often true that objects in the rear view mirror are closer than they appear.

Then again, so are the things to come.

Before I know it I'll have a daughter driving, then away at college. There are two more right behind her. There's bound to be more weddings, babies and funerals in the years to come. I think the more I realize this the more I have this twofold reaction.

The first is to slow down and enjoy the moments.

The second is to hold them loosely.

This life is most assuredly fleeting. I don't find many people to argue that point that aren't stay-at-home moms with multiple kids under three. Even they will admit the days drag, but the years fly. The Bible says in James 4:14 that we don't know what tomorrow will bring and our lives are but a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

That's some serious time perspective.

Like the mom in the comic this morning, I'd find that very, very, very sad if there wasn't more to it than this life. So less than a week after Christmas I find myself thinking less about the new year and more about the centuries to come on a new earth with the Savior who promised to come again.