Wednesday, March 16, 2011
9:39 AM | Posted by
Unknown
I was struck with something today, so bear with me as I ramble through my thoughts to try to make sense of them. The standard line is that we can't change the past, only the future. I think that is only partly true.
Referring to the passage of time, I am a nexus and a filter between the me in the past and the me in the future. I stand at the crossroads between the two called "the present." The present has no time value since any one point in time is either in the future or in the past. By the time you can identify any point in "present" time it is already in the past. So how do I prepare for the future if it hasn't come yet, and when it does, it becomes the past so quickly I can't identify when it arrived?
I have been talking to a man about the passing of his father. It hasn't happened yet, but it could happen at any moment. When I old and get to that stage of life, where will I be? Will I be focused on the future? Is that how I will be judged by God when all is said and done? No, I will be judged on my past. When I feel satisfaction about something, is it about something that is going to happen or something that has already happened? When I think about where my life is going, do I focus first on what may happen (over which I really have no direct control) or do I look at where I have been?
As I see it, preparing for the future can only happen by making sure that what ends up in my past is good, worthy, and prudent. Only then will I be prepared for what might come my way in the future. That means I have to turn every moment, as it passes by me in an endless stream, into worthwhile pursuits, worthy thoughts, and worthy actions. By doing so I can get 20 years down the road and look back with satisfaction that I did what I should have, been where I should have been, and have been worthy of what I should have been worthy of. Only by looking with satisfaction at my past can I expect my future to hold better things for me. I cannot expect my future to be any different than it is today unless I prepare for my future by making sure my past is up to code (so to speak). My past is the best predictor of my future.
As a side note, I wonder (go with me on this because I'm thinking out loud), I wonder if what makes us different from brute beasts is that they live in time, but we, as children of God, live outside of time. Time passes through us. Because we are eternal in our nature time only serves to reflect back to us our actions and our states of being at various points along the time continuum. Time is like a recording medium for our actions. Yes, in mortality we age, but remember that mortality is only a temporary condition, it is not eternity, but a small moment in eternity. This time in mortality is a short proving time to see if we can spend a very small amount of time in eternity away from our parents and still be faithful to what they have taught us. How we do in this brief span of time will determine what we will be doing for the rest of eternity. Again, it comes back to preparing for the future by making sure our past is worthy of all acceptation. Concerning our nature, time is like water, continually flowing. We are the course through which it flows. What we do with that time as it passes through us will determine our past and build our future. Our behavior is a time dance, with each movement producing actions that flow in all directions of time, effecting both our past and our potential future.
Referring to the passage of time, I am a nexus and a filter between the me in the past and the me in the future. I stand at the crossroads between the two called "the present." The present has no time value since any one point in time is either in the future or in the past. By the time you can identify any point in "present" time it is already in the past. So how do I prepare for the future if it hasn't come yet, and when it does, it becomes the past so quickly I can't identify when it arrived?
I have been talking to a man about the passing of his father. It hasn't happened yet, but it could happen at any moment. When I old and get to that stage of life, where will I be? Will I be focused on the future? Is that how I will be judged by God when all is said and done? No, I will be judged on my past. When I feel satisfaction about something, is it about something that is going to happen or something that has already happened? When I think about where my life is going, do I focus first on what may happen (over which I really have no direct control) or do I look at where I have been?
As I see it, preparing for the future can only happen by making sure that what ends up in my past is good, worthy, and prudent. Only then will I be prepared for what might come my way in the future. That means I have to turn every moment, as it passes by me in an endless stream, into worthwhile pursuits, worthy thoughts, and worthy actions. By doing so I can get 20 years down the road and look back with satisfaction that I did what I should have, been where I should have been, and have been worthy of what I should have been worthy of. Only by looking with satisfaction at my past can I expect my future to hold better things for me. I cannot expect my future to be any different than it is today unless I prepare for my future by making sure my past is up to code (so to speak). My past is the best predictor of my future.
As a side note, I wonder (go with me on this because I'm thinking out loud), I wonder if what makes us different from brute beasts is that they live in time, but we, as children of God, live outside of time. Time passes through us. Because we are eternal in our nature time only serves to reflect back to us our actions and our states of being at various points along the time continuum. Time is like a recording medium for our actions. Yes, in mortality we age, but remember that mortality is only a temporary condition, it is not eternity, but a small moment in eternity. This time in mortality is a short proving time to see if we can spend a very small amount of time in eternity away from our parents and still be faithful to what they have taught us. How we do in this brief span of time will determine what we will be doing for the rest of eternity. Again, it comes back to preparing for the future by making sure our past is worthy of all acceptation. Concerning our nature, time is like water, continually flowing. We are the course through which it flows. What we do with that time as it passes through us will determine our past and build our future. Our behavior is a time dance, with each movement producing actions that flow in all directions of time, effecting both our past and our potential future.
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