It was the day to turn back our clocks, but one hour didn’t seem far enough. Maybe you remember Cher, back in ‘89, wondering the same with her famous song, “If I Could Turn Back Time.” She longed to travel back in time to the moment before she used her words to blow up the relationship with her lover; if only she had known.
We are perfectly designed to travel through time, one moment at a time. “We are all time voyagers leaving history in our wake, pioneering into the future,” writes futurist Erwin McManus. We can only travel forward, but a part of me wants to travel backward. What did I miss?
Studies have suggested that human psychology is evolutionarily hard-wired to live in the past and the future. Other species have instincts and reflexes to help their survival, but human survival relies very much on learning and planning. You can’t learn without living in the past, and you can’t plan without living in the future. So we must travel back to learn, not to fix.
As I write, my thoughts drift to the moment I walked into my father’s workshop a few days after his unexpected death. His well-worn gloves were placed strategically on the bench next to the ledger of the tool-sharpening business he started after he retired from the factory. I feel regret over not making time for him before he died. Since then, I’ve learned not to allow perpetual busyness to rob me of the sacredness of moments while they are happening.
Now, when I hear the echoes of the past, I also listen quietly for the gentle whispers from my Heavenly Father, who speaks from eternity into my now moment. Our spirit lives in eternity, but our human experience is lived out in time. The Now Moment is where time and eternity intersect in our awareness.
Lord, we thank you for the gift of our memories and for the Now Moments when your world touches ours. “The Holy Spirit makes God’s fatherhood real to us as he whispers into our innermost being, “You are God’s beloved child.” [Romans 8:16 TPT]
Jeff Wittmer is a Certified Life Coach, entrepreneur, and trainer of coaches and leaders. He founded Burning Bush Life Coaching and California Coaching Collaborative, which offers Certification Credentials for Life Coaches. In addition to coaching, Jeff has been a lead pastor, church planter, motivational speaker, and most recently, an instructor at Bethel School of Ministry in Redding, California, where he lives with his lovely wife, Sheri, and the rest of his crew. Jeff’s goal as a communicator is to awaken people to their God-given brilliance, raising their spiritual intelligence and empowering them to live a more abundant and vibrant life.