but surely that was just a few days ago, wasn’t it?

It is a known fact, that time seems to go quicker the older you become. The basic test is to ask folk in their twenties to close their eyes and put their hand up when a minute has gone by. They will always be within five seconds of perfect accuracy. Ask the over eighties to do the same thing and they will usually put their hand up when ninety seconds have passed. So older people report that hours seem to drag, but the months pass very quickly. In other words time seems to pass rather slowly when they’re experiencing it, but in retrospect, seems to have flashed past very quickly. How can this happen?

Neuro- scientists suggest the reason is a mechanical one, "neural conduction velocity slowdown." The speed at which our brain cells beat or pulse, slows down as we age. So it’s a bit like the feeling we get if we deliberately walk slower – everyone seems to be walking faster than usual!

Cognitive psychologists, however, suggest that our early years are full of first-time events - your first date, the birth of your first child, that first big holiday. First occasions are novel events and we tend to make more detailed and lasting memories of those first times. When we repeat an event, year after year, it is less likely to make a unique or lasting impression. So time seems to be governed, by the activities that occupy the time period. If you’re watching an exciting film for example, time seems to pass very quickly. If you’re in some very boring situation, time seems to pass very slowly. So when you look backwards over the day, it seems very long when there were a lot of activities, whereas, if there are very few activities, particularly very few new activities, it may appear, retrospectively, very short.

So the time paradox in older people: both the slowness of time experienced as it passes, and the retrospective feeling, that it is flashing past, may be caused by a general tendency for older people to have fewer novel life experiences than they do when they’re younger. That seems to account for both of the apparently paradoxical aspects of time, experienced in aging.

So, even though it seems to have flown, Christmas 2011 is over and we are into a new year.

A New Year in which we can praise God! A New Year in which we can serve God! A New Year in which we can bless one another! Let’s make those things some of our resolutions for 2012.

Then, before we know it, Spring and Summer will have arrived, with all their wonders.

For Cafe Church, we pray that the New Year will bring a number of new families into fellowship. There are certainly plans for extra new events each month and also for a number of visiting Speakers from various parts of the United Kingdom.

Please ask Christian friends around the world to pray for this work in the Dordogne. We are absolutely convinced that God hears and answers prayer and we have seen real progress, time and time again, when there has been a surge in prayer support.

So one key to slowing down the increasing pace of life, is take advantage of new and unique experiences. Live more in the present, and hold on to a positive perception of the future - a future full of hope and optimism. In other words, use time wisely and come to Cafe Church!

May God bless you and those whom you love throughout 2012.