Time is such a strange thing.
It has been entirely created by human beings, yet all things are subject to it (well, unless if you really get into the whole relativity thing). We live by clocks and hours and days. We measure our lives out in small increments that for all intents and purposes, we have created ourselves... Why?
I believe that the reason why time is so important to us is that it is a measure of change. Without time, we wouldn't be able to measure the rate at which things change... in fact, without a discrete measurement of time we would never be able to gauge any change at all. I believe time is the primary indicator of change that we have as human beings.
The thing that strikes me as odd is this - if we did not "invent" time as human beings, would the concept exist? That may not make sense at first, but this is what I mean.
Although things would still move and have velocity (therefore time would exist), without humanity, there would be no one to measure the velocity, as such the velocity would have no relevance. So, wouldn't time be a subjective construct? Without someone watching a clock, time wouldn't really exist - at least not in a practical sense... time would still pass, but it wouldn't hold any relevance or importance.
So, does this not mean that time depends on us for it's very survival? When looked at in this light, perhaps we are not as defenseless against the ravages of time as we may believe, perhaps the human intellect, the human thought, the idea is something that is even more powerful than time.
Another aspect of time that strikes me as unusual lies in the relationship that time has with God. Time being a human concept lies purely within our domain of existence... however, God would (possibly) be exempt from any effects of time... logically speaking this means that God does not care about time, and why would He? God lies above and far beyond the notion of time... so, how would this affect our prayers? If I ask for something next year that I want today, do my prayers "still count" towards my goal? It is a facetious question of course, but an interesting thought experiment nonetheless. Our primary interaction for many of us lies in prayers. Whenever we ask for something in our prayers, it can often be limited in time (eg, "please help me with my exams," "help so-and-so person get better," etc...). This means that when I ask for things, oftentimes I want those things to occur shortly after I ask for them... but if God is not limited in time, if God is omniscient and omnipotent, and if God is not bound by the constraints of time, then what does it matter when I ask? If I was to pray for something today that I wanted a year ago, will these prayers be heard?
I don't know the true limits and boundaries of time, I don't know the effects of these limits and boundaries, however the one thing I do know is that, although we define time, it governs us. So enjoy every moment, and live every day.
