I am reading Eugene Peterson’s book Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places. In it he talks of how God has given us the creation gift of time. I often think of time as a hindrance rather than a gift - a limiting factor. When I was a kid time stopped the fun. “Tommy come in for supper” stopped the play. Time was a limit for finishing a test. Time moved slow as I waited for the last thirty minutes of school to end.
Today time is what speeds away as I work towards a deadline. Time is something I have little of and it all seems to pass so fast. I think, someday I will step out of time and into eternity where I will no longer have to be a slave to time, as I exist in the presence of God.
Peterson says my view of time is skewed and as I think about it, I agree. Time is available to me, to exist within and enjoy creation, to enjoy God and others, to play with my kids, to swim at the beach, to work and be productive, to live life in all its fullness. Time is a gift.
Peterson goes on to say that of the “many desecrations of creation, the profanation of time ranks near the top … The most conspicuous evidences of this desecration are hurry and procrastination: Hurry turns away from the gift of time in a compulsive grabbing of abstractions that it can posses and control. Procrastination is distracted from the gift of time in a lazy inattentiveness to the life of obedience and adoration….”
Wow. I abuse the gift through hurry and procrastination. Time is a gift. How can I live in the “fullness of time”?
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
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1 comment:
That is so true!!! Your post brought to mind the saying "Take time to stop and smell the roses." I believe life is chock-full of little surprises, blessings, and lessons often experience when we make the most of 'time'. Any of these can be and are missed by hurrying and/or procrastinating (that would be me :)
--Mindy Jensen
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