In the nooks of everyday life, I recently found myself face to face with the essence of time, frozen in the glass containers of my long-neglected freezer. As I unearthed remnants of the past, from mushroom soup with echoes of 2021 to the nostalgia of Thanksgiving dressing, a subtle realization dawned upon me: Time, much like these forgotten culinary treasures, is not to be hoarded, but savored. It is meant to be embraced, not stored away.
As I confronted these epicurean relics, I stumbled upon a metaphor for the fleeting nature of life. Jars of cherry pie filling – once rich and promising, now reduced to a watery imitation – mirrored the way time dilutes our earthly pursuits. How often do we grasp at moments that have long passed, only to find them eroded by the relentless march of days and years?
Yet it wasn’t just frozen memories that unveiled that poignant truth; it was also the disintegrating shoes that I recently and naively dug from underneath my bed. I realized after an outing to church services, my lovely brown boots that I hadn’t worn in at least two years had succumbed to the inevitability of decay. When I got home, their outer surface was literally peeling away.
Only a few days earlier, the sole of another favorite pair of boots began flapping as I padded through the house. My trip to the kitchen soon became a trip to the garbage can. Another pair of shoes, originally bound for Rolling Hills Thrift Store, now seems destined to a similar fate.
Yes, shoes and boots can fall victim to the natural wear and tear of time. A single step too far, and the veneer of reliability can unravel, much like the unpredictability of our own life’s path.
Through this wear and tear of the physical world, a straightforward lesson emerged – a call to make use of the time we have before it slips away. Such tangible reminders of earthly limitations should prompt us to appreciate and make the most of the moments at hand.
Applying this principle can also extend beyond possessions and move into the delicate fabric of relationships. Just as the shoes and frozen treasures remind us of material limitations, our interactions with loved ones also hint at an underlying urgency. Cherish the people who walk beside you on your journey, for they, like all things on this planet, are subject to the passage of time. We don’t know how long we will be together.
If we take our thoughts to another, even higher realm, we can apply similar thoughts to matters of the spirit – where they can find their truest expression. Our spiritual journey is also not exempt from the ceaseless march of seasons. Just as we care for the tangible and the temporal, we are called to draw close to the divine.
James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.”
And II Corinthians 6:2 says, “Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
Don’t put your faith in the freezer and forget about it. Don’t neglect to cloth yourself with God’s grace instead of stashing it under the bed or in the closet. As we navigate the delicate balance between the fleeting and the enduring, let’s heed the wisdom embedded in frostbitten memories and disintegrating soles. Let’s pay attention to – yes – our s-o-u-l-s.
Let the whisper of time guide us toward a more profound appreciation for the present, a richer engagement with our relationships and a deeper communion with the divine.
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Sallie Rose Hollis lives in Ruston and retired from Louisiana Tech as an associate professor of journalism and the assistant director of the News Bureau. She can be contacted at sallierose@mail.com.
