As a kid I can remember trying to hurry time. Only three weeks after turning 8 I told everyone I was 8 1/2. Three months later I was almost 9. Remember those days? We couldn't wait to get older. Now we are approaching a new year and I wonder how time has moved so quickly and I am no longer 8 but almost 68. 

As I think of time I remember a saying my Grandpa Berg had over his fireplace: To kill time, try working it to death!. For years I tried to figure out what that saying meant. I understood that being busy made time move more quickly. What I never understood was why the last part of the phrase was italicized. Maybe it described someone like my great grandfather who worked hard up until he was physically unable to work anymore.

The Apostle Paul was like that. He was busy serving the Lord even when he was in prison. He wrote letters to churches (Romans to 2 Thessalonians) and in prison he evangelized his captors so that the gospel reached those who were the personal security guards for the emperor. He worked up until his death.  Tradition says that he was executed for his faith shortly after writing 2 Timothy. Some of the last words he wrote were:   I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4:7) CSB

As I reflect on 2024, I wonder, how we will face the challenges of a new year? How will we use the time? Rather than trying to hurry time will we use it for Christ's glory? Will we be able to say in 2024, "I too have fought the good fight?" My prayer is that we will. Until next year!