Time Dilation

Do the days go by faster as we get older?

You turn us back to the dust and say,  "Go back, O child of earth." For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past and like a watch in the night. You sweep us away like a dream; we fade away suddenly like the grass. In the morning it is green and flourishes; in the evening it is dried up and withered. - Psalm 90:3-6

I used to think that Einstein's theory of Relativity was wrong, that time isn't a variable but a constant, something that stays evenly spaced and experienced throughout my life.

The idea that time can dilate from one speed to another is intriguing physics, but not something we here on earth in our brief existence should be able to witness.

And yet, time does seem to move at different rates depending on what we are doing, or not doing at the time.

Waiting time, for example is often brutally slow, while enjoyment or vacation time speeds by. 

When we want to savor the moment, to hold it close and drink in all it has to offer, it slips right out of our hands.

Maybe that is why children and grandchildren grow up so quickly.  But there is something else that has an effect on time, and that is our own level of busy-ness.

The more we fill our calendars, the quicker the days pass.

And despite the disappointment we feel when we think of how quickly our lives are fading away, there is a sense of joy in having a full and fast journey.

Those whose days are unchanging and uneventful, feel time drag.  And that can be depressing.

So, it may just be a good thing to speed up life.

It is not that we want to bring about the last of our days more quickly, but to change the way we perceive our lives.  If we can fill them with joy and happiness, for all we meet, the days may move faster, but they will be worth remembering, worth savoring.

So, God in His great wisdom wants us to feel that life is just a moment, for if we feel that way, we must be having a really good life.

More to come...