From Daily to Rarely

Time is an arrow. 

Once you shoot it into the air, its trajectory is irreversible. It moves in one direction and never comes back. It momentarily stops at its peak, and then accelerates back toward Earth, because of the pull of gravity. 

Doesn’t time feel the same way? We can’t go back to the past. We need to keep going,  

I was reflecting on this when three of my dear friends and I got together again after a long time. All four of us met in the workplace eons ago, and although we worked in different units, we bumped into each other every single day: hallway, elevator, stairs, canteen, entrance, exit, parking lot, conference room, everywhere!  

Then came retirement—not at the same time; I took mine ahead. But today, after two decades,  retirement has evened out. 

That long-ago time when we were shot into the air, we had maximum speed and energy—young and driven. 

The arrow hit its highest and briefly paused; it descended toward the ground—at a slower speed this time. After leaving the workplace, things became slow—and in our case, rare.  

One rare day, however, we made it happen. 

And what a meet-up it was! The conversation was still as spirited and non-stop as 20+ years ago, but the topics have transitioned from shopping to napping, from high heels to maintenance pills, and . . .you know the drift. 

This has nothing to do with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous lines, “I shot an arrow into the air; it fell to earth I know not where.” Because we know exactly where our arrow fell.    

And when our fallen arrow will decay, I know that for all believers in grace, a spiritual arrow will shoot into the air again--this time, the trajectory is forever, never to waste away.   

“For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be  transformed into immortal bodies." 1 Corinthians 15:53 NLT