Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Year(s) (01/20/11)
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TITLE: It's Only a Year | Previous Challenge Entry
By Anna Moody
01/25/11 -
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Our education is also measured in years – it took us 4 or 5 years to achieve a Bachelor’s Degree, then a few more years for a Master’s and even more years for a Doctorate. All of these degrees are followed closely by those school loans with the full payback measured in years. Those school loans were so easy to accept and have now become a burden to our livelihood.
Years of marriage celebrated in anniversaries, adopt specified material benefits. The 5th dictates wooden, 15th is crystal, 25th silver, 40th ruby, 50th gold and 60th is diamond. The longer one is married, it would seem, the more valuable the material equivalent becomes. Most charts do not extend past the 60th or 75th year of marriage, but if they do, the material component is the same - diamond. The only exception is the 100th anniversary where it specifies a 10-carat diamond! Obviously the authors of those charts figured no one could or should be married for those extended amounts of time. Thus, if a couple makes it to those advanced years, does it mean the marriage no longer increases in value?
Many projects or achievements are classified as yearly goals or levels. We remodel or build homes in terms of “not this year,” or “it will be finished next year” or “the children will be gone in two years.” The mortgage which finances that home is measured in years until the home will truly be ours. Leisure time is controlled by the number of years it will take us to save the funds necessary to take that vacation we have always dreamed of taking. Our climb up the corporate ladder or promotions in any of our vocations is gauged by years of service, or years of experience.
But stop! Where did this measurement of time originate? Who made a year 12 months, 52 weeks, and 365 days in length? And who decided we should add a day to the year every four years? As we look for answers, science reveals that the answers lie in the rotation of the earth and all other components of our solar system. And who is responsible for that? It is a sobering revelation to those who think they control it all. Those who feel they are in full charge of the world around them are disappointed when they discover the solution really lies in creation. We are in awe when we try to wrap our minds around the ability of a being capable of calculating all of these measurements and then making them work in a practical world. It takes but a second to minimize our own place in the world. It turns us all to the higher power over us and among us.
I recall being taught in my early Christian years - - - a day to God is like a million years to us. When we are able to absorb that concept we receive an understanding of and patience for answers to our prayers. Patience has never been one of my virtues and each time I pray God challenges my lack thereof. However, I’ve also learned that sometimes no answer is truly the answer to my prayer.
A year? - God’s way of giving us a methodical way of marking time during our earthly life. Our understanding of God’s reasoning will be revealed when we no longer mark time in terms of years. Eternity has no time line – it is simply forever.
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Remember to write out single digit numbers. Also if you double space between paragraphs it is easier to read.
Good job on covering the topic in a broad and interesting way.