Dear Trekker,

Another year has come and gone… and we are racing into 2007. This also completes our second year of ‘Passing the Baton’… 24 issues! Whew! We seem only to have begun.

“Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by… the length of our days is seventy years, or eighty, if we have the strength. Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” These thoughts of Moses (Psalm 90) touch the heartstrings of this 72-year-old trekker.

Time does not pass by; we do! That great hymn, “O God, Our Help in Ages Past”, contains a sobering bit of verse: ‘Time, like an ever-rolling stream, bears all its sons away; they fly, forgotten, as a dream dies at the opening day.’

Time… what a word to conjure up. Time simply is, and we take it for granted. It cannot be hoarded, only wisely spent. For each of us in 2007, there are the same number of weeks, days and hours. How will we spend the 8,760 hours? We will sleep away 1/3 of them… eat and play away 1/6 of them. That leaves about 50% for productive activity… 4,380 hours is a lot of time on one’s hands. What will we do with it, trekker?

Time and the mind are a mighty duo. Our memories mull and go back in time wishing we could relive a moment, or undo some terrible deed or hurt we caused. We all project into future time. A good buddy has dubbed fear as ‘fantasized experiences appearing real.’ I like that! We all spend time dreaming of what could be, or should have been. Time itself is a great teacher, if we are sufficiently able not to repeat the sins of the past. Sadly, we regularly do.

Many of us (I am leading the pack) waste precious time on things neither important nor necessary to become the men of God we are called to be. Change in our lives will occur whether we desire it or not; have you looked in the mirror lately? But change also can be intentional because we choose to move from random thoughts to intentional ones; from random to focused choices! Life is a suspension bridge across time… from one year to the next, from one success (or failure) to the next. How we spend 50% of our hours each year depends on how we ‘redeem the time’. The ubiquitous words, ‘if only I had more time’ are spoken excusably so often by us all.

One thing is for certain… living ‘heartily unto the Lord’ means living every moment in celebration of the life the Lifegiver has given so abundantly to us. From Ecclesiastes, we read these ‘all timely’ words: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away (ooo… that hits this pack rat), a time to fear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time to war and a time for peace.” Everything fills time and space. The key question… how is one spending his time?

Sure, I make New Year’s resolutions, too. One I’ve made this year is to intentionally journal all my thoughts and experiences each day until I have passed by into His presence. I have decided to intentionally marry up time and experience, time and life.

Why? For a host of reasons: I find joy in writing, I have the time to record what I am learning daily, it is good discipline, and I want to energize those yet to come (four children, 18 grandchildren, soon to be two great grandchildren and YOU, my friends). Thoughts must be recalled or they become lost in time and truth needs to be seen as enduring! (I often say, “I never speak or write anything original. It has been said before, for Truth is timeless.”) But, the baton of truth must be passed, to model, encourage, and nurture one another.

I am grateful to a dear friend, Fil Anderson of youth ministry days, for calling to my attention the ‘Awareness Examen’ I use as a tool for my effective journaling. It invites us to review and examine the day’s thoughts, feelings, and actions in terms of how God was/is present and how we responded to Him. How did I love today; how was I loved? How did I celebrate life today? What did I learn on my journey today? How did God reveal Himself today? Did I notice?

Time is a gift, so we call awareness, presence. What a present! How blessed to record time by living in the eternal awareness of a loving heavenly Father who gives good gifts to His children. Could there be a greater gift than time? King Solomon would say “no”, for time ‘allows’ everything! What do we place in it? Journaling is enabling me to be conscious of ‘my days’.

The ‘Awareness Examen’ actually originated with Ignatius of Loyola, a humble priest and founder of the Society of Jesus in the 1500s. It simply leads us into His presence to ask the right questions and receive His ‘timeless’ answers. Happy New Year Trekker! There is a lot of discretionary time out there

Your fellow trekker,

Jim Meredith