High on the wall of All Souls College, Oxford, is mounted a Christopher Wren-designed sundial carrying the inscription, Pereunt et imputantur – ‘[The hours] perish and are laid to our charge.’ It’s a powerful reminder of how quickly time passes and that we are accountable to God for how we use our days.
This certainty resounds throughout Scripture. As it says in Psalm 90:12, ‘…teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.’ The writer’s first words ‘teach us’ suggests that every generation needs to learn the lesson of just how fleeting life is. Indeed, if we live to be 80, we only have 4,000 weeks or 28,000 days!
