On this Ash Wednesday, I repent of time given over to things unworthy of God who sent His Son to redeem me, of every second in time’s calendar when I turned my face away from His to pursue futile, unholy thoughts and deeds. And I rejoice to know that on that day when eternity dawns, time will be consumed and with it, sin and death and decay. But I can’t close this day out without giving Milton the last word On Time:
On Time John Milton (1608 – 1674)
Fly envious Time, till thou run out thy race, Call on the lazy leaden-stepping hours, Whose speed is but the heavy Plummets pace; And glut thy self with what thy womb devours, Which is no more then what is false and vain, And meerly mortal dross; So little is our loss, So little is thy gain. For when as each thing bad thou hast entomb’d, And last of all, thy greedy self consum’d, Then long Eternity shall greet our bliss With an individual kiss; And Joy shall overtake us as a flood, When every thing that is sincerely good And perfectly divine, With Truth, and Peace, and Love shall ever shine About the supreme Throne Of him, t’whose happy-making sight alone, When once our heav’nly-guided soul shall clime, Then all this Earthy grosnes quit, Attir’d with Stars, we shall for ever sit, Triumphing over Death, and Chance, and thee O Time.
Romans 6:20-23 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Dreams from a Pilgrimage 