KEEPING TIME (Remember who you are)

The antique store clerk held the clock up for my approval. It was still ticking.

"Nope," I dismissed it and continued the search.

It might do if I hoped to merely pass the time, but I was looking for much more.

I needed a timepiece that would hold one special moment forever.

Its face must be weathered by life, its hands precise and determined to point to the exact minute a dream came true.

I was about to give up when I found the treasure in a discard bin and gingerly set it on the counter.

"I'll take it!" I announced and hurried home holding the tiny tissue-swaddled bundle.

Ever so carefully, I unwrapped it to behold its beauty, touch the delicate hands with wonder.

I nudged the long hand up to rest slightly under the 9, the short one a little before 6.

5:43 - the time my newest grandchild was born.

The heirloom took its place next to the other clocks chosen to hold my precious moments -10:10, 9:11, 11:45 and now, 5:43. 

Time passed; the clocks never moved. Yet one morning, I found that my heart had shifted.

Somehow, it had turned back to old ways and bad habits and I had forgotten who I was. 

I came before God weary and broken, checking off the list of everything I had become - selfish, stubborn, hypocrite, unable to love, unable to change, destined for the reject pile.

But then I looked up and saw a collection of clocks on the shelf- four faces and eight hands unmoved, unwavering; Love staring down at me.

It made me think. 

If one tarnished, human heart could stop on a dime for another, how much more could the hands of God be forever fixed on me? Forever set toward you?

Yes, God thinks you and I are worth keeping into eternity. 

The Ancient of Days has set His face toward you.

No matter what, you are someone He will never forget.

Surely the righteous will never be shaken; they will be remembered forever.

(Psalm 112:6, NIV)