SpiritMatters Monthly January 2010

With the Lord one day is as a thousand years,
And a thousand years one day.

Dogs, for all of their amazing abilities, cannot tell time. A dog might know when it is time to eat, or when it is time to sleep, but it gets these cues from its environment, not from the clock on the wall. A dog might even know about when you will be getting home, but it can’t tell you how long you have been gone. This is why many dogs seem just as happy to see you after you have been gone one hour as after you have been gone for six. Clocks (and their hours, minutes and seconds) are simply not a meaningful part of a dog’s world.
Humans, on the other hand, worship clocks. Don’t believe me? Just turn on your TV every December 31st.

Of course, clocks aren’t the only time-telling devices that humans worship: we love calendars too. January marks the beginning of a new calendar year and thus for many of us, means it is time to buy a new calendar. I have three calendars on my desk at work, two at home, one in my computer and one in my phone. I have a hard time imagining what my life would be like if I didn’t have something in front of me telling me what day it is today, what I’m supposed to be doing, and what I’m likely to be doing tomorrow.

Calendars can be very useful devices; at their best they can help us remember and celebrate meaningful events. They can help us to manage our time and number our days so that those things that are the most important get the most attention. Calendars should help us live our lives, not just eat them away one day at a time. Long ago, before the average person even owned a calendar, priests would stand before their parishioners on January the 6th (the Feast of the Epiphany) and sing to them the dates of the major feasts of the following year. Here the average person was given the opportunity to look ahead at the coming year and at least mentally set apart those great observances wherein his or her time belonged to God and no other.

Now is the time, while our calendars are still fresh and uncluttered, to look ahead and take note of those things which we wish to observe in the coming year. Have we blocked off time to participate in our faith communities? Have we set aside time for rest and vacation? Have we
planned to do anything fun and exciting in the coming year? Take the time to do what is truly important, or the unimportant things will take the time away from you. Tell your calendar what is important in your life before it tells you.

We have all grown so dependent on clocks and calendars to order our daily lives that we often forget that they are a human creation, not a divine one. Clocks and calendars are our attempt to impose order on the universe, but they are likely to be far more important to us than they are to God; after all, time takes on a very different meaning if you aren’t sitting on a planet spinning around the Sun. Just because we have set aside time for God, doesn’t mean that God is bound to act according to our schedule. God doesn’t wear a watch. We set aside time to allow ourselves to see how God is continually working in our lives, not to force God’s hand. Setting aside time for God is a ritual practice that reminds us that we forget him more than he forgets us. God can and will enter into our lives even at the most inconvenient times. Sometimes it seems like God is always leaving everything to the last minute, but then when you are in control of the universe I guess there’s no need to be in a hurry. Dealing with a deity that can’t tell time can be frustrating, as the psalmist frequently reminds us (“How long, oh Lord”), but it can also give us great hope: hope that God, like a dog, will be filled with joy every time we return and not care so much about how long we have been away.

Blessings,

Fr. Kevin