Tick-tock, tick-tock…
A soothing sound with a dependable cadence creates a stabilizing backdrop to the vibrant life pulsating throughout our home. Our 45th wedding anniversary approaches, and I give fresh thought to this anniversary gift Larry and I gave each other when we lived in Germany’s Black Forest. With a certificate of authenticity attached to its back, our clock is destined to be an heirloom.
The wooden timepiece first christened a wall when all three children still resided at home. From its place of prominence, the clock reminded us it was time to attend graduation of our firstborn, time to leave for the airport for her to attend university, and then, time for her to come home for that first visit at Christmas.
Later, the clock played its role in letting us know it was time for our family to move from Germany and relocate into the geography of Eastern Europe. The time had come for us to pack up and pull away from an idyllic rural setting with Wanderweg’s, apple orchards, and pastoral hillsides to follow the will of God and the call of God on our lives.
Mounted on the wall of our living room in Budapest, our clock marked the hour for our family’s Sunday Afternoon Tea, the sacrosanct time in our week to stop, savor our relationships, enjoy conversation with each other, and read aloud from a classic. The ticking in the background gave us the sense of “all is well.”
True to its calling, our clock marked the time for more graduation ceremonies, more trips to the airport, and more good-byes as our next two left for university placing an ocean between us. The clock waited for Larry and me to return and to strike the hour beginning our empty nest.
Sometimes the gentle rhythm of our faithful friend offered the only sound in this home which once bustled with boisterous laughter, and with voices calling out on the stairway, asking what to wear, what’s for dinner, or who’s joining us for dinner? At acute times of loneliness, Larry and I were grateful for the clock’s comforting balm; it supplied a quiet melody in what would have otherwise been a painfully silent set of empty walls.
Then, still marking the seasons of our family’s journey, this clock struck the hour for our young adults to return home with a special ‘someone’ for us to meet. The time was nigh for them to begin their own homes, to hang their own clocks, and to start their own families.
Today, this faithful friend graces yet another home, and furnishes intrigue for this next generation. With grandchildren snuggled in our arms, we wind its gears, we gaze upon its pendulum, we smile and listen to its chimes.
I treasure this possession. Standing like a sentinel in one address after another, our clock has announced celebrations, relocations, transitions, holidays, lonliness, and growth. In an odd sort of way, this clock has functioned as a heartbeat, going with us in our multiple moves and making home happen wherever we lived. More than a just keeper of minutes and hours, it has been a steady voice reminding us:
Time never stands still.
Life moves on.
Relationships remain our greatest joy.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart...
(Ecclesiastes 3:11).
Teach us to number our days carefully, so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts.
(Psalm 90: 1 HCSB).
Tick-tock, tick-tock…
Living With Eternal Intentionality™
What is one lesson time has taught you?
How are you redeeming the time as you move forward in life?
