Terry’s Take… Hitting Rewind
When I was 12, I received for Christmas my first tape recorder. It was a beauty! That same Christmas, a friend of mine also found a tape recorder waiting under the tree for him. We had a blast tape recording our relatives and friends, breaking all copyright laws by recording music off of our favourite radio stations, and pretending to be journalists interviewing all sorts of unlikely subjects.
Cassette tapes were not yet invented so our recorders were reel to reel. Reel to reel recorders have always been “the real deal” for sound engineers wanting excellent fidelity.
What I remember most about my recorder were how quickly the tape would rewind if you pressed the fast rewind button. In a split second “whooosh” the tape would rewind even pushing pockets of air outward as it rewound.
“Tempus fugit” is Latin for “time flies.”
When I pressed fast rewind the minutes and hours I spent recording went speeding by. Which got me to thinking theologically… (hey, I’m a pastor right?) about how our lives whoosh by each year.
So here is what I would like you to ponder today: If you could rewind your life what things might you change? If you could rewind 10 years, how many times have you exemplified being a follower of Jesus? How many times have you fallen short? What makes you cringe as you review the last 10 years?
Now…let’s rewind 1 year. You can most likely remember more clearly specific times you have been selfish, unloving, unfaithful to Jesus’s teachings.
I want you to also remember the sweet forgiveness and absolution you received by God’s grace. The times you literally “tasted the Lord and it was good.” Forgiven and kneeling at the Communion table your past sins were wiped clean…”whoosh”… by the cross.
Now I want you to rewind the recording of your life to just one hour! Where did you miss the mark? Are you putting off a phone call you are dreading? Were you snippy to the store clerk? Did you snap at a loved one? Perhaps in the past hour you committed a more “serious” sin.
The point I am making here is that each one of our lives is really just a tape reel of actions, reactions, feelings and emotions accumulated over a period of time. Little acts over time build up to make the whole character of your life.
So… each year, each day, each hour strive to follow Our Saviour’s teaching. Don’t neglect the little things that are God-pleasing. You will then have beautiful symphonic… high fidelity… recording of your life! And in those time you “mess up” God allows you to fast rewind and begin anew …whoosh… through His great mercy!