"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.." - Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NIV). 

"Where did all the time go!" asked a certain parent soon after their last born left the house to take up a job upcountry. The older three children were already out of the house, two married, one working overseas. The children were all strong in Christ. "Since I can't bring the time I had with them back," the parent reflected. "At least for all the time we had we made sure they knew Christ!"

Time has been described as a "continued sequence of existence and events that occur in irreversible succession from the past, through the present into the future"! Just as we see for this parent once time has passed you can't win it back. Apparently there are certain things in life you can win back, if you missed. Like going back to school. There have been cases of octegerians who missed school retracing back their steps in class. Certain objects of pleasure missed out on can be acquired, years down the road, perhaps then more affluent and with means.

There are though certain aspects of life which once they are past us, there are gone. For example, the time a parent has to spend with his children and raise them in the fear of God, is one for a specific definite period. Some parents go to the extreme of picking on making money as the most important, necessitating their long absence from home. But time does not wait. One day they return all rich and ladden with goods. But the children are then grown up and perhaps already out of the house. Whatever magic tricks one has you can't win back the lost time. It was gone forever!

For this reason may the Lord grant us wisdom to know how to use our time purposefully. "Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:12), is a reality check that time we have is not forever. Each of us must therefore seek to use time wisely, into things of lasting value, for once gone, time is irreversible.

Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, today I pray that you teach mean to value the time I have and spend it meaningfully in things that matter while the time is still there, before all is gone, this I pray in Jesus's name.