Being the first meeting of the new year, I figured it would be a good time to share some thoughts on “time”. Obviously God gave us the concept and physics of time, and the abilities to capture, display and track its ever continual march forward. Every civilization that has watched the skies has developed technologies to manage the tracking of time. The concept of time has been good for mankind. It aids in communication and coordination and has been used in untold advances in our lives. Like anything though we can, and often do, let it take control of our lives. Time is not something we can control, and that can lead to tremendous stresses. We all know how refreshing it can be to be on vacation, or even just a rare weekend with little on the calendar, when we have a chance to kick back and kind of forget our routine obligations and time schedules. I want to share with you a few quotes I ran across that I thought appropriate. The first is from Hal Borland, an American author. He said “Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.” It is good to have milestones marked by time, anniversaries to celebrate, birthdays, etc. Taking advantage of certain milestones to reflect on how our life is going is good. Are we living as we should, are there things we should change in our lives? But we should remember the relevance of time in relation to our spiritual nature. We really shouldn’t wait for milestones to ask these questions of ourselves. Perhaps it would be better to raise awareness of our life’s direction on a daily basis. This brings me to the second quote. Ben Franklin said, “Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man.”. I think that is a good approach. There is no reason to wait for New Year’s day to establish a resolution to make yourself a better person. This ties in with the last quote, actually it is from the bible (Luke 12:40), “You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”
Most of you I guess have noticed the rising fervor over the Mayan calendar ending on December 21st, 2012. The theory is that the “end times” will occur when that calendar ends. If it is God’s will that the second coming falls according to that calendar, so be it. However, I will not be surprised in the least if we all wake up on December 22nd with business as usual. The story is interesting and I am sure I will watch documentaries and such on the subject. What will be really fascinating though is watching the difference in behaviors of those who believe in our spiritual salvation vs. those who do not. My plan is to pray for those who do not believe, and to work on my own soul regardless of timelines. After all, my presence on this earth is on a timeline known only to God. That is, as it should be.
I urge us all to periodically take a moment to block out some “time without Time” to listen to God on His terms. Give time to God, He will give you more in return.