Redeem The Time

“Let those who have had seasons of seriousness, lengthen them into a life. Let those who have hitherto lived religiously, learn devotion. Let those who have lived in good conscience, learn to live by faith. Let those who have made a good profession, aim at consistency. Let those who take pleasure in religious worship, aim at inward sanctity. Let those who have knowledge, learn to love, and those who meditate, forget not mortification. Let not this sacred season leave us as it found us. Let it leave us, not as children, but as heirs and as citizens of the kingdom of heaven. The time may come when we shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and see it not. Let us redeem the time while it is called today, ‘until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ’ (Eph 4:13).”
~John Henry Newman (from Waiting For Christ: Meditations for Advent and Christmas)