Photo by Nikos Koutoulas

By Chloe Sun

When and what is your “Golden Era”? Is this era in the past, present, or future? The phrase suggests someone in the present, looking back to a certain time period in the past, crowning that time period as “the Golden Era.” Perhaps compared with the present, that time period in the past seems the most beautiful, glittering, and unsurpassable. In the movie “The Golden Era”, the director chronicled the life of a Chinese female author, Xiao Hong, in an era of war, poverty, and chaos of China in the 1930s. In the rapid changes of the political landscape and personal relationships, Xiao Hong located the time when she was studying in Japan as her “Golden Era.” For her, the past was better.

For me, I have always lived for the future. The future was better. The past was not perfect. The present was unfinished. The future seemed much brighter and more hopeful. The unknown makes it mysterious yet full of possibilities. Imagining the future helps me to transcend the past and the present. I have always thought that my “Golden Era” lied in the future. As time goes by, the life I live now is the “future” that I envisioned in the past. Is now my “Golden Era” or is it still in the future? What if my “Golden Era” is not in the future or in the past, but here and now? What if NOW is the best time of my life? How would I view my life then? Would that change anything?

Yes, it changes everything. If I believe now is the best time of my life, I would treasure every moment with my family and friends. I would be thankful for every opportunity that comes my way. I would focus more on what I love to do. I would live for the present. I would not care too much of what others think of me, because this is my “Golden Era.” I am going to own it and to live it to the fullest. Believing that NOW is my “Golden Era” changes everything!

Chloe Sun, PhD., has been teaching Hebrew Scriptures at Logos Evangelical Seminary since 2004.  Her research interests include culture, gender, and identity issues in the Old Testament, Asian American Interpretations of the Bible, and Wisdom Literature. She lives with her husband and son in Southern California.