PASTOR’S PERSPECTIVE: “A close look at the hour glass”
By: Ron Woodrum
George Herbert, poet and Parish pastor from the 1600’s, wrote, “Our flesh is but the hour glass, which holds the dust that measures all our time” Have you ever watched an hour glass? You turn it over, all the sand is in the top. There is a steady measure exchange of sand from the top to the bottom. The top appears so much fuller than the bottom. But the flow contines. Soon the bottom is almost half as full as the top. Then you notice top and bottom are nearly equal. It’s not long until you notice the bottom has twice as much as the top. Then the top soon only has a quarter of the total sand…then an eighth of the sand…then a sixteenth…then suddenly there is just a tiny amount filling the neck separating the top and bottom, and suddenly the top is empty! That is what George Herbert meant. “Our flesh…the hour glass…measuring our time”. We might say, “illustrating the passing of the dust which is our lives”. Pastor Herbert used a very Biblical Metaphor for life when he chose the hour glass. That is exactly what the Scripture tells us to do. In Psalm 39 David wrote: “Show me, Oh Lord, my life’s end and the measure of my days, let me know how fleeting is my life”. In Psalm 90 Moses prayed, “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom”. Both of these men were not asking for the gift of prophecy to predict their end, but instead for a change of perspective. They understood that living in the knowledge of how fleeting life is becomes a life-changing attitude. So it would for us. We celebrate and measure our lives by years. But Scripture tells us to do that by days. Not weeks, not months, not years but DAYS! The word measure, in Psalm 39:4, is the Hebrew word “maddah” which means “to size up-to take precise measure on the heigth, width, and depth. i.e. full measure”. The word number, in Psalm 90:12, is the Hebrew word “mannah” and means “to assign proper place in the count”. That is evaluating the hour glass.
Just a brief consideration of “numbering our days” is very sobering. Let me illustrate it in a personal way. In 1999 I faced a major crisis in my life. I was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. I was 46 years old. A quick numbering of my days meant that I had lived 16,780 days. God was gracious and allowed me to be healed. I have now been given eighteen more years by His grace. My days now number 23,360. That is an additional 6,570 days. This week’s crisis again reminded me of the sand in the hour glass. If I live out the “three-score-and ten” the Bible says is given to men- that means I would have only 2,190 days left. 23,360 grains of sand has already entered the bottom half of the hour glass-only 2,190 left in the top. Should I be given “borrowed time” and live until 80 years, then there is only 5,840 left in the top of the hour glass. Comparing bottom with top is quite sobering. This is a mathematical exercise that Scripture tells all of us to participate in. But that is a Scriptural perspective we all need to have. T.S. Eliot, the great English poet, in his poem A Song For Simeon, wrote “My life is light, waiting for the death wind; like a feather on the back of my hand; dust in the sunlight, memory in corners; waiting for the wind that chills towards the dead land”. Not a favorite poem of most, but an enlightening one! The great American Essayist and Author Flannery O’ Connor, when told of her terminal disease, said that it “taught her to measure her days as Psalm 39:4 said, and numbering her days, as Psalm 90:12 said. She continued that it helps us prepare for our death by ordering our loves with the Love of God, and prepares us not only for the true life of eternity, but also for right living in the present world”.
One of my favorite poems about summing up our lives in a proper perspective is the poem-The Dash, by Linda Ellis. Here is the poem:
“I read of a man who stood to speak
at the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on the tombstone
from the beginning…to the end.
He noted that first came the date of the birth
And spoke the following date with tears,
But said what mattered most was
The dash between those years!
For that dash represents all the time
That they spent alive on this earth.
And now only those who loved them
Know what that little line is worth.
So think about this long and hard
Are there things you would like to change?
For you never know how much time is left
That can still be rearranged.
If we could just slow down enough
To consider what is true and real
And always try to understand
The way other people feel.
And be less quick to anger
And show appreciation more
And love the people in our lives
Like we have never loved them before
If we treat each other with respect
And more often wear a smile,
Remembering that this special dash
Might only last a little while.
So when your eulogy is being read,
With your life’s actions to rehash
Would you be proud of the things they would say
About how you spent your DASH?”
Peter Marshall summed it up best when he said, “The measure of life is not in its duration but in its donation!” Have you checked your Dash for any significant Donation? If not take a quick glance at that hour glass..there is still time left…make it count! One day at a time!