Sterile red desert stretches to the horizon. The sky is clear and empty. Nothing moves. Fragile sand sculptures dot the landscape.

Suddenly the world is turned upside down. Red sand mingles with white dust and falls from the sky. The mixture collides with rising black soot. A pyramid of red rock builds, and becomes a perfect mountain peak. Sandstone arches are created, linger, and crash under their own weight. Caves form. Stalactites grow until the roof collapses into rubble. Sand storms rage across the landscape filling the sky with more debris. Erupting volcanoes spew streams of red particles into the air. A dust devil rises and sways in the air current. Silt laden waterfalls pour over cliffs and cascade down mountainsides. Billions of years pass in just a few minutes.

All this chaos is captured in a frame of time. A world pressed flat between two pieces of Plexiglas. Sand swirls in a clear liquid and pours through openings on multiple levels. Shapes and forms in endless variety pass in moments.

It’s a clever adaptation of the hourglass that sits on my desk. With the tip of my finger I can flip the frame and set world building into motion. I watch the old world pass away and a new world begin; reminding me that each day can be a new beginning for my life.