Time

My last entry entitled 'Speed' ended with this statement:

Whatever you're facing today that can be under the heading of crisis - slow down. There is something in the landscape of your crisis that God sees as vastly more interesting and important than the crisis itself.


Hopefully you're thinking more dynamically about the trouble you may be in or the crisis you may be facing. Hopefully you've not contacted the prayer line to get you out of the crisis, but for God to show Himself strong in the crisis. By now hopefully you've contacted your pastor as an FYI to what God is revealing, rather than sending an SOS signaling to him or her they had better get involved quickly.


Congratulations ... you've begun to 'think God'!

Recently our family took a vacation which included a major theme park. It's one of those places where the park has come up with a convenience called 'fast pass'. When the park is really full, fast pass works very well. With fast pass you basically reserve your place in line for a later time which is usually 60 to 90 minutes later.


This allows you two things; time to go see other attractions and upon your return an immediate jump to the front of the line. Of course fast pass is dependent on two unspoken rules; your familiarity with the park and fairly decent planning on your part. So if you're not that familiar or not a good planner, potentially you could miss your reserved place in line and if you miss it well ... you've missed it.


However, and this is a big however, when the park is not full or busy, as on the day we were there, I overheard interesting revelations. People taking the fast pass option realized after awhile, they didn't really need it. With the average wait time being only 15 minutes, you could actually see more attractions by consistently waiting in line rather than bouncing back and forth from one reservation to the next.

Here's today's point: Time is a fluid concept.

Time behaves like its creator. Not that God is a concept but God is indeed fluid. Like an ever changing river God is constant in that He's always there, but He is never there the same way ... He's never there the same way ... never.

As a matter of note, because we seem to have an endless penchant for the static we end up being the only one in the picture not moving. Too many times we end up looking like the boulder in the middle of God's flow, unmoving and marking time. Like the boulder in the river, the flow of God moves all around us, steadily eroding the outer edges and making us so smooth He seems to flow around us effortlessly.

Here's today's question: 'When you received Jesus as the way to God, did you see your self ending up like the boulder?'

Perhaps the single most schizophrenic part of following God, for me personally, has been in regards to time. I believe in and receive the timeless [the fluid] nature of God and behave in return like the boulder, marking time and looking at my watch.

I know God doesn't wear a watch - I know this. And yet my behavior would suggest otherwise; constantly marking time and looking for a 'fast pass' solution in an effort to reserve my place in line while trotting off to other attractions.

There are bright days for all of us. The best day in my followership of Him is when I'm consumed by Him rather than consuming Him with the marking of time. When instead of flowing around me we flow together. Seamless and invisible is our flow like when a glass of water is poured into a river ... still there but seen no more.

This requires taking the watch off though.

Here may be some things for you to ponder:
Do I believe and receive the timeless [fluid] nature of God?
Do I freely and habitually give to others timeless relationship?
When was the last time I cut myself a break as big as the one God cut for me?
Am I the boulder?
What would happen if I flowed, truly flowed with God?

Now that you're learning to slow down, learn how to take time out of the conversation you're having with God, yourself and with others. We'll be amazed together what the combination of slow and timeless will accomplish.

Dan
A Runner