Slip Sliding Away 7.3.2025

     Tomorrow is the fourth of July. It is the birthday of our nation. For some it is the “big leagues” of picnicking. Many towns across the USA will have an evening gathering to shoot off fireworks to enhance the celebration. In my little town along the banks of the mighty Wabash we shoot our fireworks off over Labor Day weekend. I will, however, be able to stand or sit on my back porch and take in the displays from several surrounding communities. All joy with no noise nor traffic! 

     The first thing that comes to my mind, believe it or don’t, is that Independence Day serves as the unofficial mid-point of summer. Unofficial of course because 1) The actual beginning of summer was 11 days ago. 2) The continued evolution of the school year means that the vacation part of the summer now ends closer to the beginning of August than the end. For traditionalists and those who mark the passing of time by milestones the Summer season divides in thirds. Memorial Day to Independence Day, Independence Day to Labor Day. According to that metric we are passing the two-thirds mark. In the words of the contemporary prophet Paul Simon, Summer is “Slip Sliding Away. There is nothing we can do about the passing of time. We can’t slow it down or even control it. What we can do is invest that time, evaluate what we have done, and steward this—our shared unrenewable resource. 

    I know that you are busy about the business of picnic preparation or thinking about relaxation and holiday plans. Allow me a moment to remind you of what you can do to remain focused on remaining time we have in 2025 so at the end you won’t lament as Paul Simon did

           And God only knows, God makes His plan
           The information's unavailable to the mortal man
          We're workin' our jobs, collect our pay
         Believe we're gliding down the highway when in fact we're slip slidin' away

Written by: Paul Simon Album: The Essential Paul Simon Released: 200 Lyrics provided by Musixmatch

    While it is true that we do not have the same information the Father does about the big picture of the passing of time, we do have, if not control, at least visibility into the days, weeks, months, seasons, and years of our own lives. What can we do to maintain a bit of perspective on the passing of time? To begin with let’s frame this discussion with a couple of scriptural ideas that will help us to maintain perspective. Simon is correct, our access to time and space is not the same as God’s. But that does not mean that we are helpless before the passing of time. Moses reminds us in Psalm 90 of both our fragility and our chrono-limitation

“10 The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. 11 Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? 12 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:10-12 ESV)

Solomon calls us to remember that we alone, among all of God’s creatures have a consciousness of the passing of time and that our conception of existence is pervaded by an eternal perspective

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11 ESV)

And the Apostle Paul reminds us that though time is a fleeting commodity we may still take responsibility for how we use the time that God allots us to live, love, and serve Him. In that time, we may seek Him for salvation “For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2 ESV) And we can use wisely and well the time Gives us: “making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:16 ESV)

     We cannot keep time from passing nor can we ever get any more of it. We can however make the best use of the time God gives us living with an eternal perspective combining gratitude and integrity. To that end I have four simple steps we can take, here at the midpoint and other times during the year to ensure that we are not constantly flogged by guilt for wasting our time. 

Review

    Record what you do. Go back over your records and remind yourself of the plans you have implemented and what you have accomplished. Remember the people whose lives you have touched in some way and consider how God has used your preaching, your pastoral work, your planning and leading His Church, the various programs you have participated in and the steps you have taken to improve your professional performance. The heart of what we used to describe as “redeeming the time” is knowing where it went. 

Evaluate

    It is not an effective review if you don’t give yourself a grade or score of some kind. You must evaluate not only where the time was spent but how well it was used. Did you achieve what you intended? Were there opportunities to maximize what you were trying to accomplish? You need to be realistic. Most of us tend to either grade ourselves too highly or too harshly. Strike a balance. If you cannot be objective about your own performance enlist some help—a friend or colleague to help you evaluate your performance. 

Inventory

    You know that half-the year is past! You still have half to go. Fifty percent of your time is waiting to be invested in preaching, teaching, caring, and preparing for your kingdom work. Do you have the rest of the tools you need? God gave you the time, you need to make sure that the other resources you will need to do your appointed task are ready to go, honed and sharpened for the job ahead. If you lack anything, this is the time to make up for the shortfall. 

Plan

    What’s next? You should be following a well-considered yearly plan. Now is the time to sit down with it and mark it up a bit. Have things the last 6 months gone according to plan? Does the plan need further calibration? Have I overlooked something? What do I need to do to execute this plan to the best of my ability in each of the next relevant reporting periods? 

    Moving into the last third of the summer means preparing for July and August. After that, Labor Day means return to school and Fall planning. From now until the end of the year we go no more than 6 weeks between major holiday observances. Before you know it, we will be in the Thanksgiving—Christmas Matrix…at which point you are finished with 2025. 

    God only knows. God makes His plan. While Rhymin’ Simon’s observation is true of the divine economy, God gives you the latitude and responsibility to take control of the time He has given you. You never know exactly how much of this precious commodity has been allotted but we can each take measure of our days and live them faithfully and responsibly.