Time

     Time is infinite but there is never enough of it. Time is both limited and unlimited without beginning nor end. Everyone has time but it is not understood by anyone.

Ecc 3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

     Life is a season (v.1). Some call it's beginning "spring". Spring has its purpose: to grow forth from that which was not alive but with potential to live. The seed of life for everything is what it can be - it's purpose. God has purpose! His is to Exist. Existence is forever and hence time cannot be bound. God must be! To Exist and have purpose requires something else. God desired to have companionship so that He does not Exist alone. Man's purpose is to love God. God gave mankind a vocation:

Gen 2:15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

      Examine that verse closely. Yhovah (the Eternal One) 'Elohiym (God; plural in His three aspects)laqach (brought forth)  'adam (mankind) and yanach (allowed him to stay) in the gan (fenced-in area) to 'abad (to serve) shamar (to hedge or protect it and to regard it). The context is "dressing and keeping" the Garden, but within Adam's purpose was everyone's! Our purpose is pointed out in 'adam - mankind. The purpose has no time limit set, hence is for perpetuity! Mankind is to "dress and keep" the Garden forever.
     But the Garden no longer seems to exist! How can mankind dress and keep what cannot be seen? Because this specific Garden is still extant:

Gen 2:9 And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Prov 3:18 She (wisdom) is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.

Rev 2:7 To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

     Time is defined for wise men in these three verses: from beginning and for eternity - time without end.! To obtain life without end, or endless time, the proverb is to lay hold of the Tree of Life and retain her! Anyone should recognize that, that proverb is to "dress and keep" the Tree of Life just as God said in the beginning about the Garden! The Tree of Life is in the midst of the Garden so that the Garden is dressed and kept by laying hold on the Tree and retaining the Tree.
     As can be seen from Scripture, the Tree of Life is representative of God ('Elohiym). God is usually El (singular) because there is only one Supreme God! Why the plural of El? John 1:1-2,14 explains that: Jesus was in the beginning and was God then and now. Where was He? He was the visible and audible aspect of the Tree of Life. (Yes, that "Tree" spoke and walked because He was more than a Tree. Mankind lived in the presence of God in Paradise. The same Paradise where the Tree still stands, and often sits at the right hand of God.) 'Elohiym is used because of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!
     We think of  "sitting" as a physical place where Jesus rests. We think of Trees as stationary physical objects. However, Jesus sitting on the right hand of God is a spiritual position. "Right" means truth and is a characteristic of God. Likewise, the visible "Tree" is God manifested. The root is the Father (Creator) from whose presence the "seen" emanates. The River of God underground is the Holy Spirit which empowers growth and makes the Tree thrive, and causing an abundance of truth on the Tree - the twelve fruits of the Spirit: charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity (kindness), goodness, longanimity (generosity), mildness (gentleness), faith, modesty, continency (self-control), and chastity (Gal 5:22--23 Vulgate Version; mentioned in Rev 22:2).
     Now back to "dressing and keeping" the Garden. Hedging is protecting the Tree and its fruits. The Garden (gan) was existence within a hedge. Satan acknowledged that God had put a "hedge" around Job (Job 1:10). Job, because he ate of the twelve fruits (faith), was spiritually in God's Garden enclosed by God's hedge of safety just like Adam. Adam was allowed to eat of the fruits of the Tree of Life. He didn't; Job did! Adam was displaced from the hedge and Job was kept safely inside. Job could have eaten of the forbidden fruit but didn't; he was wiser than Adam! Note that like Adam, Job could have left the safety of the "Garden" but didn't because he protected God and regarded him highly. (Living righteously is preserving the Law of God.)
     Job took time to dress and keep God. Adam didn't. His time was spent on pleasure! A time to pluck up what has been planted, to laugh, and to dance. Because of disobedience and the penalty for sin, the hedge was removed by God in that man was displaced from the Hedge providing times to plant, to morn, to hate, and to war. Man makes time for what he wants to do (Deut 12:8)!
     Protecting and regarding God is mankind's purpose. Our time should be doing our job assignment. Life should be about lifting up God and trusting him (John 3:7; "you must be born again"). Adam was "born" when he was created but like us, he "must be born again". Recognizing that "dressing and keeping" the Tree of Life was the only way to live forever, Adam would have been reborn. He didn't recognize the importance of his lifetime job assignment and transgressed. However, by grace, God covered their sins (Gen 3:21) by providing life to kill that they not die!
     They suffered the consequence of sin even though God forgave them because they were contrite. Outside the protective hedge (God's Garden) the adversary can kill! Inside God's spiritual Garden Satan cannot! Because mankind tasted sin with the eating of the forbidden fruit, we are all prone to sin and death. All the time in everyone's life is spent battling sin! Solomon knew that as written above. Mankind spends all our available time struggling with sin! What a shame... we should be serving God by "dressing and keeping" the Tree of Life!
    Not doing so is a waste of time. Solomon's words indicate that he knew all about time. Everything seemed futile to him if time is taken to read all his words in Ecclesiastes. That is true: unless time is used wisely for the Tree of Life, time is vanity! The things we do may keep us, but they do little toward keeping the Way of the Lord unless time is spent for Him -our very purpose in living!