Shane and time…they have never come into agreement.  Growing up, we would be in the process of eating lunch and Shane would ask, “When’s dinner?” or “What’s for supper?”  As each year rolls around, our family is prepared for Shane’s personal calendar.  Around May or June, Shane starts announcing that his birthday is coming up soon (in August) and asking what we will get him.  After his birthday, he begins talking about Thanksgiving…he LOVES Thanksgiving food!  Then, of course, Christmas is a daily topic for weeks.

What’s so comical about Shane’s timetable is that he thinks he is “catching up” in age each year and is so disappointed to find out that he never does.  Almost every year on his birthday, he will say, “Sister, you’re still older than me.”  He can’t understand how he gets older, but never catches up to me, and it both frustrates and baffles him.  Especially since his birthday is in August and mine in October, which is later in the year than his.  It’s the same with Dad and Mom.  On their birthdays, he will tell me, “Well, Mom and Dad are still older than us” as he gives his head a shake.

No matter how many times and ways we explain “time” to Shane, each year brings the same challenges and comical moments.  He can tell time on a clock, but his concept of the space of time is absent.  If you think your kids have driven you up a wall with “are we there yet,” Shane takes that statement to a whole new level when going places!  We have also learned to not tell him of upcoming medical procedures when able because he will worry as if it is happening today.

The Bible speaks of a day as being like a thousand years to God, and a thousand years like a day (2 Peter 3:8).  Who knows, Shane may have a better understanding of Heaven’s timetable than we do.  I know it would make him so happy to be older than me for just one birthday…and of course, I would be good with skipping a few years of aging myself!!!