Welcome to December, the tenth month of the year! Yup. “Decem” in Latin means “ten.” November was the ninth month of the year, “novem” meaning “nine.” October: “octo” means “eight.” And you can guess September: the seventh (“septem”) month of the year. What happened?
We use time to measure life. In ancient Rome the year began with March, named after Mars, the god of war. When it became apparent that time wasn’t paying attention to the calendar, legend says the Roman king Numa Pompilius added January and February. With that calendar, December is indeed the tenth month. Time still didn’t pay attention to the calendar. So, Julius Caesar, the dictator, added two months: Quintilis (meaning the fifth month) and Sextilis (meaning the sixth month). That’s why December is actually the twelfth month, not the tenth. After Julius Caesar was assassinated (44 B.C.) and Emperor Augustus Caesar died (14 A.D), those months were renamed in their honor, July and August. So here we are.
People talk about “time management,” and on a small scale we can manage time, but in the big scheme of things? Jim Croce sang, “There never seems to be enough time to do the things you want to do once you find them.” Sadly, he died in a plane crash. Physical things decline, like old buildings, old roads, old cars, and our bodies and earthly lives as well. “Like sand through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives,” began the long-running NBC soap opera. It’s vain to imagine we can master time.
If we can’t master time, who can? The 17th century poet George Herbert wrote, “All things were more ours by being His. What Adam had, and forfeited for all, Christ keepeth now, who cannot fail or fall.” “O Thou who changest not, abide with me.” Measure time not by clock or calendar but as moments, days, and seasons with the Master of time. Live in the present. I am Thine and Thou art mine. “If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s” (Romans 14:8). We’ll never run out of time with our God!
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