Life Is But a Blink

I have vowed to never write anything on this blog unless I had something of value to say. For the last year, I didn’t feel as though I had anything of worth to share. I have been writing, though. My latest book Fresh from the Table: A Devotional Journey Through Jesus’ Farewell Address has just released. It is 40-day look at Jesus’ “after dinner” speech delivered at His last Passover meal with His disciples—the night before His crucifixion. All of the gospels mention this Last Supper (and many artists have tried to paint it) but only John writes down the words spoken from the lips of the Master he had followed and served for three years. It’s fascinating, at least to me, that those three chapters in John’s Gospel (14,15, 16) have more theology, revelation, and pathos than anything Jesus had ever said. So, I tried to condense His words into a 40-day devotional book. Hope you will buy it on Amazon and enjoy this walk through the scripture. There is a sequel to this book that will be called Fresh from the Mountain where I do the same thing with the Sermon on the Mount.  More later on this.

The other obstacle to my writing is the hardest part. December 13, 2025, my sweet Dennis, died suddenly of a stroke. Of course, all of us who loved him are reeling from this loss. He was a beautiful, talented, kind soul and he and I were knit together for over 50 years. In fact, we were a week away from celebrating 51. In trying to heal and somehow make sense of all of this, I have been a bit reclusive—not knowing what to say. I still have trouble putting into words, what the Lord has been teaching me during these last 4 months—lessons I honestly didn’t want to learn, at least not this way.

One thing I found among Dennis’ effects was some writing—prose—he had done and was continuing to do. I knew he was writing something about his life and work and the lessons he learned that he wanted to impart to us, but I had not really read these chapters until I finally was able to locate them on his computer. He wanted to call it Life Is But A Blink abouthow fragile and fleeting our lives are on earth. He began this project in 2023 and though he hadn’t finished it, I found several chapters that I’d like to share with you. I’m sure he would be thrilled to have you read this.

I don’t believe that he had a premonition about his death that would happen a year later, but I do believe that he wanted to leave these words to those who would come behind him. I’ll share his thoughts on this blog a little at a time.

LIFE IS BUT A BLINK

By Dennis Allen

“May you live all the days of your life.” – Jonathan Swift

1. Prologue

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Row, row, row your boat,

Gently down the stream.

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,

Life is but a dream.

This children’s nursery rhyme was written sometime in the 1800s.  The interpretation of this notion has been debated for years.  It could mean that nothing is actual or real, that life is more of an illusion.  It could also imply that as we live our lives (rowing along), going with the flow (things are more gentle that way, you know) that we will be merry (happy, carefree)—because life is in fact only a dream.   We’ll wake up soon enough, and both the good and bad will disappear.   

Oh, if only that were the way life happens!

The optimistic viewpoint of this nursery rhyme is nice.   But I am skeptical of its truth.  There are lots of quotes about dreams from famous and not-so-famous people—you can look them up on the internet.  Also, there are many who think they can tell you what dreams means.  Hmm. Here’s one of my recurring ones:

I’m supposed to play piano for a large performance—people I don’t know—unfamiliar location

I show up right at starting time (I am NEVER late, so this is definitely a nightmare)

I sit down at the piano and find a huge stack of lyrics-only paper, no music charts

I have no idea in what order they should be for the performance.

Right then, the conductor holds up his baton for the downbeat.

Welcome to my dreams.  Most of my dreams are a jumbled-up combination of people, places, and situations—mostly random, mostly frustrating.  For me, dreams are anything but “dreamy.”

Many times we don’t “wake up” from the bad stuff.  It tends to follow us around.   Life is indeed a journey and we are required to row, row along.  Sometimes it is gentle, sometimes it is merry, but sometimes…oh, man…sometimes it is more than we can deal with.  It is certainly not a dream.  For the most part it is all too real.   

So, this preface you’ve endured so far is meant to set up what will be the main topic of this writing.   Life is not a dream.  It is real, and it is short—just like a blink.  (for the record, you blink between 14,000–19,000 times a day)   A blink is experienced almost without noticing.  It just happens.  

When things in life are going well, we hate for time to pass so quickly.  When things in life are going bad, we wish for “this too shall pass” to pass quicker. 

So…what makes me think I have something to say on this topic?   First, I am older now and as I look back I understand much better how fast these years do pass.  Second, I wish more people had said a word of “stop and smell the roses” to me along the way.  Most of the time, people are rushing along, focused on whatever they think is important.  All the while the days, months, years are quickly passing, seemingly unnoticed, like a blink.    

“The greatest surprise in life to me is the brevity of life.”

Billy Graham

*TO BE CONTINUED*