The dragon has so much to do in his pursuit of the woman that for him time flies by; his time is short. The woman lives in a wilderness of shortage and so of necessity must live from day to day. At the same time, for the woman life is a trial, to the point that you are always looking for the promise of a new year and the improved conditions a new season might bring, such as rain. But the new year provides no improvement; it instead stretches out as an endless year—“times.” Then suddenly, halfway through the year (or season), the endless time is broken with deliverance (e.g., rain). The same time period, then, is described in different ways depending on perspective.
14 But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time.