Our clocks and calendars are an ever-present source of pressure in our lives. Often, that pressure can be a good thing...providing boundaries for those periods of time we don't enjoy or keeping us respectful of an appointment with someone. Many times I find that a sense of time exerts mostly negative pressure on me. Dictating deadlines, cutting short moments of rest, pushing us towards the next item on my outlook calendar.
We bumped into an old friend at Starbucks the other day and the whole tone of our conversation was a lament of time. Time has flown by and we've missed many significant moments in the lives of others. The kids are at vacation bible school, or dance class, or riding lessons, etc and ad infinitum! Then came the statement that haunts me... "That's life, isn't it?!"
Is it?
Really?
Is life about appointments, deadlines, hurrying and scurrying, missing moments because we're late for the next moment?
I have a feeling that we have CHOSEN 'chronos' over 'kairos.' We have chosen to be mastered by those falling granules of sand...those incessant ticks of the clock.
A sense of God's time...resting in the moments...detecting the seasons of life...we've surrendered it for something more manageable and objective and predictable.I think we've lost a great deal in that exchange.
3 comments:
excellent post chris! lord help us not be mastered by the machine (the suicide machine).
The problem here as we attempt to not be so bound by time is that people can misinterpret our actions to say that they are not important because they were the one left waiting. I want to be open to random encounters the Lord places before me, to enjoy rest for whatever period of time my body feels is appropriate, but I don't feel the freedom to do that without others having accepted the same mentality. I suppose we all know which acquaintances are more understanding of these situation and will graciously allow us to begin this transformation at their expense.
"I have a feeling that we have CHOSEN 'chronos' over 'kairos.'"
Thanks for the reminder of this distinction. Life is SO much more than rushing from one thing to the next.
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