A magnetic hourglass.
Purchased by me.
For me.
Now it's not really an hourglass, per se, since it takes less than a minute to empty, but rather it has an hourglass shape. Nonetheless, it's fascinating to watch. Flip the hourglass off its base, turn it over and watch the black "sand" fall into stalagmite formations below. Eventually, the stalagmite formations morph into an almost perfect half orb, complete with spiky exterior.
The secret for this interesting time waster is in the sand and special base. The "sand" is actually ferrous or iron filings and the base contains a nickel-sized magnet. The ferrous filings are attracted to the magnet and continue to build off one another in branch-like formations until the final few moments when they mold into one another to form the spiky half-orb. All the "sand" is centered around the one powerful magnet. Even when tilted, the orb stays together, as if glued to the magnet.
Jesus is the magnet in my life. As I fall through the hourglass of life, I'm attracted and pulled to him. And as him as my foundation, I'm called to do my part in attracting others to him as well. Like the ferrous filings, we, as Christians, are building those branch-like formations. We find our place in the sphere. Baptist. Reformed. Christian Reformed. Methodist. Catholic. Presbyterian. And so on. And so on. All one. All Christians. All built on one foundation. And when the last sand falls through the hourglass, we will meld together as one. One holy church, united together around our center.
Jesus.
Matthew 28:18-20
Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: “God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.”
