The Mystery of Time: The Fleeting Yet Eternal Nature of Existence

Time. We all have it—until we don’t. Each day, we receive the same twenty-four hours, yet once a moment arrives, it passes and is gone forever. You can measure time, but you cannot grasp it; it slips through your fingers the instant it arrives. 

In our human experience, we think of time as past, present, and future. Yet, we only experience time in the present. The past does not actually exist as a “thing,” but only as a memory. Likewise, the future never exists, except in our imagination. The only time that actually exists is the present moment, which is always streaming. 

(This reflection sets aside the “block universe” theory, derived from the theory of relativity, which posits that all moments exist simultaneously. Whether or not that is true, it is not part of our lived experience.) 

This reality highlights the profound importance of the present moment. Life is built from these moments. What we think and do now shapes the future, for the future is nothing more than the unfolding of countless “nows.” If we allow past experiences to control our present thoughts and actions, our future will simply repeat our past. But if we change how we think and live now, we open the possibility of a new future. 

C. S. Lewis wrote, “For the present is the point at which time touches eternity.”​ The present is fleeting, yet it is also the place where our lives intersect with the Eternal. When Moses asked God His name, God answered, “I Am who I Am” (Exodus 3:14). I Am is the Eternal Now. God exists in the Present, and the Eternal is always hidden within this moment. 

When we become mindful of the Present, we discover that what feels fleeting is also infinite. Some describe the experience of being so absorbed in the present moment that time seems to dissolve and they taste the bliss of the Eternal One. This is the experience of ​AWE​. 

One helpful practice is to use a reminder—perhaps an hourly chime—to draw you back into the present. Each time, return to ​AWE​: 

Aware – Notice this moment. Not the past. Not the future. Just now. 

Wonder – Rest in the mystery of being here, without needing to explain it. 

Experience – Simply be. Let this streaming moment touch eternity.

In the end, time is both fleeting and eternal. The goal is not to master it, but to awaken to it. This Present Moment where we encounter the Eternal One.

• St. Augustine: “Time is a creation of God, a measure of our journey toward eternity.” (Confessions)

• Thomas Merton: “Every moment is a gift, a sacrament of the present that connects us to the eternal.” (Thoughts in Solitude)

• Rabindranath Tagore: “Time is a melody, each moment a note played by the eternal.” (Gitanjali)

• Tao Te Ching 14: “Time flows like a river, always changing, yet always the same.”

• Ecclesiastes 3:1: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” (NIV)

AWE

Aware.  Which quote speaks to you?
Wonder.  Contemplate what this means to you.
Enjoy/Engage/Experience.  What is your next step?

• St. Benedict of Nursia: “By living fully in the moment, we touch the eternal presence of God.” (The Rule of St. Benedict)

• Julian of Norwich: “In God, all time is present; nothing is lost, and nothing is hurried.” (Revelations of Divine Love)

• Marcus Aurelius: “Live not as though eternity is ahead but as though it is within this moment.” (Meditations)

• Bhagavad Gita 2:16: “The real never ceases to be, and the unreal never is. This truth about time is eternal.”

• Revelation 22:13: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” (NIV)

AWE

Aware.  Which quote speaks to you?
Wonder.  Contemplate what this means to you.
Enjoy/Engage/Experience.  What is your next step?

• St. Teresa of Ávila: “This life is but a moment; it is the doorway to eternity.” (Interior Castle)

• Simone Weil: “The fleeting nature of time teaches us to cherish each moment as sacred.” (Gravity and Grace)

• Horace (New Source): “Seize the day, trusting as little as possible in tomorrow.” (Odes)

• The Dhammapada 113: “Better to live one moment in wisdom than a hundred years without it.”

• James 4:14: “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.” (NIV)

AWE

Aware.  Which quote speaks to you?
Wonder.  Contemplate what this means to you.
Enjoy/Engage/Experience.  What is your next step?

• St. Francis of Assisi: “Time teaches us patience, for it is through waiting that we grow closer to God.” (Sayings of St. Francis)

• Henri Nouwen: “Time teaches us the art of waiting, trusting that God works in His time, not ours.” (The Inner Voice of Love)

• Rainer Maria Rilke: “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart. Live the questions now.” (Letters to a Young Poet)

• Rig Veda 10.129.3: “Time is the great teacher, revealing the hidden truths of existence.”

• Psalm 90:12: “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (NIV)

AWE

Aware.  Which quote speaks to you?
Wonder.  Contemplate what this means to you.
Enjoy/Engage/Experience.  What is your next step?

• St. Gregory of Nyssa: “God dwells in eternity, yet He enters time to walk with us in love.” (The Life of Moses)

• Maximus the Confessor: “In God’s timelessness, the beginning and the end are one, and all things are complete in Him.” (Ambigua to John)

• Albert Schweitzer: “Time and eternity meet in the soul that is attuned to the divine.” (Reverence for Life)

• Tao Te Ching 64: “Time is infinite, yet the wise move within it as though each step is the first and the last.”

• 2 Peter 3:8: “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” (NIV)

AWE

Aware.  Which quote speaks to you?
Wonder.  Contemplate what this means to you.
Enjoy/Engage/Experience.  What is your next step?

• Thomas Merton: “Every moment is a gift, a sacrament of the present that connects us to the eternal.” (Thoughts in Solitude)

• St. Benedict of Nursia: “By living fully in the moment, we touch the eternal presence of God.” (The Rule of St. Benedict)

• Simone Weil: “The fleeting nature of time teaches us to cherish each moment as sacred.” (Gravity and Grace)

• Maximus the Confessor: “In God’s timelessness, the beginning and the end are one, and all things are complete in Him.” (Ambigua to John)

• Revelation 22:13: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” (NIV)

AWE

Aware.  Which quote speaks to you?
Wonder.  Contemplate what this means to you.
Enjoy/Engage/Experience.  What is your next step?