I remember this joke as a child. Question: "You know how to make time fly?" Answer: "Throw a clock out the window." (I did not say it was a funny joke.) Now far removed from those childhood days, I know of another way to make time fly: Live longer.

I heard it described once as a matter of proportions. One year to a ten-year-old is one tenth of his life. One year to a fifty-year-old is one fiftieth. For the ten-year-old a year seems like an eternity. For the fifty-year-old it's like only a moment. For the child looking ahead a year is difficult to imagine and something to rush. For the parent of that child, it is almost something to avoid and slow down. Time flies.

Time has flown.

It seems like just yesterday when he started school. Off he went in new clothes with his book bag in hand and with all the excitement of a child on a new adventure. Today his new clothes consist of a cap and a gown. He carries his diploma, his cell phone, and perhaps your credit card.

It seems like only yesterday when she was content to play in the sand on the beach, going for walks in the neighborhood, and learning to ride her bike. Now she's planning a wedding and dreaming of a real castle in her own neighborhood.

It seems like yesterday when you held her for the first time. You could not believe you were a parent. Now you are standing in the nursery holding her child. You cannot believe you are a grandparent.

It was not long ago, so it seems, when your Dad would leave for work early in the morning and come in late in the day. There was just enough daylight to play ball with you and do a few chores before dinner. Now he is gone most of the time. He left several years ago and only occasionally comes back to where you are. You try to get him to remember, but he cannot. He stares out the window and you wonder where the time has gone.

Wasn't it only yesterday when the two of you stood before an audience in your finest clothing, expressing your love and devotion for a lifetime? Now you are celebrating another anniversary and there is talk of a silver or gold celebration.

It does not seem so long ago that a trip to grandmother's house was a long trip filled with anticipation of meals and laughter and peaceful days. Now you realize her house was only a few miles away and a stranger lives there. Only the memories of days gone by remain.

Try as we may, we cannot stop it and we cannot slow it down.
Time flies. Try as we may, we cannot stop it and we cannot slow it down. Before long, today will only be a distant memory of what once was. That is the way of life.

Scripture reminds us that time flies: "Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." (James 4:14 NIV)

Time flies.
Time is flying.
Time has flown.

We cannot change what has happened yesterday and we have very little control over what comes tomorrow. What we have is today. Today is a gift from God to be shared with all we love. Let's enjoy it. Let's share it. Let's spend today making a memory that we will remember years from now when we are sitting all alone reflecting on how time has flown.

Enjoy today ... because time flies, even when no one throws the clock out the window.