Scrolling through the online current offerings of Sotherans Rare Books and Prints in London I noticed a 1943 copy of T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets for sale for $513. I remembered that I had an identical copy and located it in my bookcase. Opening it up I discovered I had purchased it in Atlanta in 2000 for $40. Eliot considered it his masterpiece which contributed to his being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948. It is described as four meditations on man’s relationship with time, the universe and the divine. The first poem is entitled Burnt Norton from a manor house he visited in the Cotswolds. Its first lines challenge me as I meditate on my past life’s journey and anticipate my future life. How much are we the product of our past and how much do we carry into our future? We have snapshots of ourselves at various times and we find ourselves living in the present with all our memories. As I read Scripture I see the people of God being reminded of their past and how God’s hands guided them. The Bible itself is the product of the past and I am astonished at how it has been recorded over time and preserved for us in its present form. Yet it also points us to the future of our life in God. It is rich beyond measure containing the unsearchable riches of history, wisdom, poetry, prophecy and promise. I ponder the meaning of Eliot’s words as he begins his masterpiece.

Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.
What might have been is an abstraction
Remaining a perpetual possibility
Only in a world of speculation.
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.
Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden.

When Eliot says that time is unredeemable he means that it cannot be recovered. It becomes past but not lost. God sees all time as present and therefore can see our entire mortal lives as whole from beginning to end. We try to make sense of our time as we are distracted by the trivial and our dreams. Our mind wanders as he did as he walked through a rose garden. Our minds go hither and thither as our thoughts assail us. We are bombarded with information and images through all sorts of media and our surroundings. We go back to our memories and we marvel at all the circumstances of our lives. We are looking forward to our inheritance, the fulfilment of the gospel promises, our salvation. Do we carry our past with us into our future life? But God “will wipe every tear from our eyes. There will be no more death, or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Rev.21:4)