Time just keeps slipping out of my fingers the tighter I hold on, but the coolest part about having a life that involves a relationship with the Creator of time (not our version of it) is that I.. and the rest of the world.. have an opportunity to experience a new perspective.
What is time? In most cultures, its counted in seconds, minutes, hours, days, etc. Time is the number on your screen, on your wrist, or for people who still own them.. the circular thing on the wall in the kitchen. (your clock, duh.) Western culture has some really fun perspectives and even quirks when it comes to the concept of time. My personal concept of time used to include the phrase “5 minutes early is on time, on time is 5 minutes late”. (Now I REALLY want to watch Drumline.. or be back at Regional Camp)
We even keep track of the time we have been fleshly living on this beautiful planet by celebrating birthdays.
I used to count time by school years. As a teacher, even the phrase “last year” could technically still mean the same calendar year, but to me it meant something that happened in April versus something that happened in October.
We use phrases like “that time” or “this time” or “next time” as if time is a concrete event, when in reality, it’s an abstract concept that we have created for a means to measure many life events.
You can be “early”, “on time”, or you can be “late”.
We have SO many descriptors for such a concept that I’m not 100% convinced we understand from the perspective of our Father. We LITERALLY revolve our lives around numbers printed onto a circular piece of paper that we hang on a wall.
But what if we shifted our perspective?
What would happen if we viewed time as something else?
What if we started speaking about the concept of time in a matter that explains how fulfilled our lives are?
I mean, I honestly couldn’t tell you what day of the week it is anymore and it’s starting to get kinda fun. I describe a date or a time of day by the event that happened, the emotion that was invoked, the person I was with.
Because words like Sunday, February 17, 2019 don’t mean much to me at this point. But I can tell you that I remember the memory when I look back at my journal from that day. It’s the day a man from Germany that we had met less than 24 hours prior decided to follow the Holy Spirit and come to church with us.
I’m learning God doesn’t care about the details. He doesn’t care about the schedule you think you’re runnin on. He doesn’t care about how many times you messed up. He cares about the position of your heart. He cares whether you’re speakin’ truth into someone else’s life or speaking death over it. He cares about whether you’re sad or whether you’re ecstatic. And when you’re feeling sad, He wants to hear it. He wants to be the one that wipes your tears. And when you’re ecstatic, he wants to hear it. He wants to be the one you have a dance party with.
We’re close to ending our time here in Malaysia, and I feel like I’ve had revelation after revelation about my life and the lives of those around me. Next up is Thailand, where I’ll get to see my Dad after almost 8 months of Facebook Messenger calls and text messages. I’m looking forward to the events, emotions, and people that are to come as we keep running this race.
-Nico-
