Have you ever noticed how often those around you will mention time? Not as in "what time is it?", but they're always on time, out of time, running late, behind schedule, not enough hours in the day, just need a little more time ...
The Bible tells us that God spoke all of creation into being, and states explicitly that there was ... nothingness ... before that. No light, no stars or planets, no universe. Literally, nothing.
Men measure their concept of time, most often, based on things which occur on what we think of as a regular schedule. The rising of the sun or moon, the changing of the seasons ... they all seem fairly regular to us. And so, for man's purpose during his short time on the earth, they are.
We get used to doing things a certain way, and sometimes people have trouble adapting to changes in those ways. For example, here in Alaska the sunrise and sunset time change by as much as six minutes per day. The first time we visited Hawaii, I realized that sunset was at very nearly the same minute every day, and it seemed strange to me. When the sun is in the sky for 22 hours per day in June, and four hours a day in December, change happens fairly rapidly.
Various wags have stated that "time is what keeps everything from happening all at once." Clever, but inaccurate. Time is merely the concept we use to keep track of those happenings. But God's existence isn't subject to time; He exists in Eternity, where there isn't any time. Everything is forever, and we're told that nothing decays or dies, there.
So let me ask you: has it occurred to you that our seeming inability to manage time is an indication that we are intended for an eternal existence? That's what I believe; Jesus made it very, very clear that we are spiritual creatures having a temporary physical existence. These bodies in which we move and interact with the physical world are just earth suits. We leave them behind when we die, but our spirits live on.
So if you have time*, give this some thought and let me know what you think.
*Yes, that's a joke. Smile, 'kay?
John 12:24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."
11 comments:
Very wise thoughts.
Off topic, but I have a recipe for peanut butter pound cake with dark chocolate ganache. It's awesome. I didn't post but would Sam like?
I hope in eternity calories don't count.
" earth suits"
Whether or not that's original with you - I like it.
And I pray that you are correct that our fumbling with temporal matters - does, indeed, indicate the eternal.
Brigid: "But of course!" I'll send an e-m.
Cathy: I'm glad you liked it. And I'm convinced it's essentially correct.
Whether or not there is an ever-after, here's what I see. The only time people get things done is when there is "no time" to do them. Just ask anyone who has been out of work... how much of their to-do list have they gotten done? Almost none.
Humans need a deadline. They need structure to get things accomplished. Take away the structure and the illusion of a time deadline and very very few will have the mental fortitude to finish anything even things they thought were important when they didn't have "time" to do them.
Thus the old adage - if you want something done, give the job to a busy person. ;-)
Teresa: okay, so some people manage time better than the others. A looming deadline focuses the concentration like nothing else.
LOL - now get busy. ;-)
While I'm not 100% great at it, David Allen's Getting Things Done has really been a life saver for me. I had no idea how to manage projects and all that crap before I read it. I've read it several times. Then figured out my own system using Omnifocus (since I'm on a Mac) and email and calendar that works most all the time. Now I have my next actions sitting in my face and I am more apt to do them when I have a defined thing to do... and sometimes a specific time to do it.
Firmly believe the incandescent light bulb is not our friend because it has falsely led us to believe we have more time. Which we then mismanage anyway.
Very cool…and very thought provoking.
SS
Time is a foriegn concept for me as well. I'm not in sync with it. I can't manage it. I don't understand the big deal about it. About the only thing I see is that time is like a fuse. It burns for a certain length of "time" and then is finished. In the beginning you can't see the end of the fuse, toward the end you see it is very, very short.
Teresa, I think you're proving my point for me. 'Time management' is something we have to learn; it doesn't come naturally for us.
Proudhillbilly ... yes. Indeed.
SS, thanks.
Groundhog, that's my point, sir.
LOL I don't know that the "argument" (for lack of a better word) holds.
We have to learn everything whether it be time management or about God and heaven. At what point in life you learn it will certainly vary, but even the concept of God and heaven are not intrinsically known when we are born. :-)
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