Time

Earlier this week I bumped into a former colleague and as I greeted them,  I
mentioned that I hadn't seen them in while. They agreed and reminisced that
our last catch up had been almost 2 years ago! I was stunned, as I would
have said we last met just after Christmas. That exchange started me
thinking.

As I get older time seems to becoming shorter. It's not that a minute is no
longer 60 seconds or an hour is no longer 60 minutes.  It is rather how I
experience and use that hour or that minute that has altered as I age. I
seem less able to cram as many things into a day as I did a few years back.
It's as though a day has in fact become shorter.

I waken up on a Monday with a list of things I want to do that week, and
then as if by magic, its Wednesday and my too do list has not become any
shorter.

Time is a constant, it's linked to rhythm - measuring the passage of day
into night - and rhythm is essentially human. It is both convenient as well
as comfortable. Time is a measure of things and it standardises things. It
is a constant. An hour in Africa is the same as an hour in America, not like
language or currency. We don't need translation or conversion when we change
our location. Time seems to be a fluid commodity. When we try to control it,
it appears to slip from our grasp. It can't be stopped.

Time is received in the present. Used in the present. We cannot bank it, we
cannot use it more than once, we cannot go back into it and although we can
look forward to it, we do our living in it today... not yesterday or
tomorrow.  We seize the day - and that means we can live for now with little
thought for the future.



Ultimately, I think that all too often we engage with time casually -
treating it neglectfully. Taking it for granted.



So during my ruminations I have rediscovered that time is gift from God that
requires better stewardship from me.   I need to reflect upon how I can save
time to invest it in better things , how I can take time to thank God for
his many blessings,  how I can make time for others, allowing me to spend
time with those I care for.



The New testament uses two Greek words for time. Chronos - noting the
passage of time and Kairos, best translated as divine time - a moment where
God breaks into human history. The chosen time. A God moment if you like.
May we use our time better to to make time for more god moments in our lives
and those of others.