BACK TO THE FUTURE

This time of year always inspires the Satisfied Mind to consider the passage of time in his own life, but two events occurred which brought it a little closer to home. On Thanksgiving Day, the Mind's grandmother did not recognize him even after spending the whole day with her. It's hard to witness the physical and/or mental deterioration of someone you've known all your life - in this case,someone who, until relatively recently, never appeared to change all that much. The other incident took place over Christmas when one of the Mind's nieces - 8 years old - played him to a virtual draw in a game of checkers. While the Mind is proud that his niece inherited the family I.Q., it was more than a little humbling to recognize that a child could make a grown man break a sweat over a board game while she remains calm, cool, and collected! A year ago this could not have happened, but over the past year this child's mind grew to new heights. The Satisfied Mind's brother quipped that "in two years none of us will be able to beat her!" These two incidences allow the Satisfied Mind to observe progression and regression at the extreme ends of the life cycle - and with the Mind at middle age,it enables him to observe the past, present, and future at the same time. This reminds the Satisfied Mind that his own time is fleeting and that an hour, a day, a week, a month, or a year from now his world could be turned upside down. However, the Satisfied Mind knows that no matter what happens, the events of his life are not subject to "chance" or "coincidence", but to the Master of Time and Eternity, Jehovah God. The Mind concurs with King David, the sweet Psalmist of Israel: "But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, 'You are my God.' My times are in your hand." (Psalm 31:14,15). Bob Dylan said the times are a changin', but what a comfort it is to know that the One who "sets eternity in men's hearts" changes not.