Spring showers fade away,

the summer heat soon turns cold,

the autumn leaves fall and brown,

and the snow melts.

We, humanity, remain discontent with the present, and are always wishing for the next season in life. Yet, when that season arrives, we mourn for how quickly it came, and we wish that we had had more time before it had arrived.

Why do we do this? Is it entitlement? Or are we simply so plugged in that we miss everything else that is going on around us?

Here's what I think.

I think that we don't understand just how little time we are here for. Francis Chan, an evangelist and Christian author, once gave an amazing demonstration that I will never, ever forget. He's on stage, preaching at this conference, and he brings out on stage with him a white rope that is as long as the length of the stage. On that rope, there is one, tiny, red section painted on it, maybe the length of one of the top knuckles of one of your fingers. That tiny red section, in comparison to the rest of the white, represents just how much time we as humans have on earth in the grand scheme of how long the earth has existed. That teeny, tiny amount of time is how long you have to make an impact for the Kingdom of God.

So why are we continually wishing the time in between major parts of our years away? After all, we don't have much time left before that little red zone runs into white.