Flipping the Hourglass

Something someone said made me think of the large hourglass side-table in my parents’ living room. I remember picking it up, flipping it over, then sitting and watching the grains of sand slip down from one chamber to the other. Like my view of life at the time, it seemed endless. Now, as I think back on the grains of sand, I recall the countless moments of my life that have come and gone, and I wonder if it is possible to flip the hourglass over?

I don’t mean, is it possible to turn back time? I gave up that fantasy long ago. Instead, can the experiences we’ve had – the people we have known, the successes and failures we’ve had, and the places we’ve gone and things we’ve seen – be used in the time we have left? Can we take all that has happened and all we’ve experienced and flip the hourglass so those grains of sand shape the time we have left?

I remember a scene from a favorite movie when a character goes through a dramatic moment. It came out of nowhere, and suddenly what was awful turned out to bring about a radical change in the character. As those looking on applauded, the teacher leaned in and whispered, “Don’t you forget this.” Like flipping the hourglass, the character was taught to use what happened in his past to feed and shape his future.

Flipping over the hourglass changes the way I see my past. It encourages me to use my past to transform my future.