THE DRUMBEAT OF TIME

THE DRUMBEAT OF TIME

There comes a point in life when you realize that the years have gotten behind you and that you're slowly, steadily getting closer to physical death. Sounds morbid, doesn't it?... well, only if you fear it ... but that realization alone is enough to light a fire under you.

There comes a point in life when you realize that everything you have and everything you've done will someday be forgotten ... even the memory of you. It's the drumbeat of time. Generations come and go. People mean something to each other in their lifetime, and then they die, and then the ones who loved and remembered them also die. It's the drumbeat of time. Only the most rare and blessed men, like Jesus Christ, make impressions throughout human history that last for many many years. But the rest of us ... well, we live and we die without making the history books. Most of us don't even make the Wikipedia pages!

This realization really hit me after my father died. I had the dubious task of cleaning out all his memorabilia ... his honorable discharge from the service, his love letters to my mother when he was overseas, he and my mom's high school diplomas, all of his old photos of family and long-past relatives. There was no one left on earth who would want any of these things ... all of his family had passed away. But I couldn't just throw them in the trash. It felt disrespectful to me. So my brother and I built a firepit just for the occasion. For an entire night my three siblings and I sifted through all of my dad's memories. We read cards and love letters, looked at photos, and then tossed each into the fire. It was like a sacred ceremony, tears were shed, and we did our best to honor and say goodbye to dad's memories. It was then that I realized that someday there would be no one left to hold on to mine.

The other thing you realize as you get older is that you are no longer as "relevant" as you used to be. Who were once the "movers and shakers" of the universe have now retired to a life of repose and reflection. Generations have come behind us and are making changes so fast that we can hardly keep up ... and oftentimes we simply don't want to. We liked the old ways, the way we grew up, and it's hard to watch the world change so drastically. Some of us were born when television had one channel in black and white. There were no cell phones or computers. We played outside for hours. We didn't have a lot of money. A meal at a restaurant was a privilege. Oh, yes, things have changed ... things are always changing. Life is fast. Life is fleeting. It's the drumbeat of time.

There is only one thing that lasts beyond the drumbeat of time ... and that is SOUL ... ETERNAL SOUL.

Back to Blog