Time

This weekend I was reading Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places by Eugene Peterson.  In the chapter I was reading, he was reflecting on Genesis 1 and began writing about the rhythm of time in the creation story.  "And there was evening and morning the first day."

Time for me these last few years has been about trying to steal time, save time, find time, and catch up on lost time.  Time seems to slip away like the proverbial sand in our hands as we flurry and flutter around, too often neither in rest or intentionality but in mere activity.  

But God in creation orders time and creates rhythm.  Much of the story of Scripture deals with knowing how to respond to God and to the world in a particular time and a particular way.  Os Guinness speaks about this in his book The Call.  He says, "Doing the right thing at the right moment multiplies its effects incalculably." [p. 230]  Meaning is often measured in moments pregnant with possibility.  Jesus knew when it was "not his time" and "when the hour had come."  We read in Acts that God has ordained the exact times and places in which we live.  The men of Issachar were men who paid attention to the times. 

We are not only shaped by time and are present in time, but we find meaning when we act appropriately when the time is right.  Discipleship must include some schooling in the deep prayers that listen to God for our activity in this time and in this place.  Alert to God in this pregnant moment, we find life has more meaning than by filling time with a flurry of activity.  But this requires being disciples in the moment, following Jesus in what we say, think, and do because we have been listening and responding to the time that has been given us.