I hear many people complaining that they are tired of being cold. It seems that most of us would like the weather to settle down and warm up and spring to come. We look forward to the flowers, and the blossoms, and the signs of new growth and renewal. We wish the weather would change, that it would just get on with it.
One of our human idiosyncrasies is we always seem to want to move on to the next thing. And because we often feel that way, we have lost the value of time, the meaning of the moment.
Our congregation recently had a visit from one of our International Mission personnel who had just spent some time serving in Kenya. She told us she learned how Kenyans look at time; she felt there needed to be appointments for things, schedules, things to be accomplished in particular time-frames; whereas her Kenyan companions saw the value in just keeping each other company. They said to her ‘you North Americans have watches, but we have time’.
It seems they have a sense of the value of just being together, spending time together with no particular purpose in mind; whereas we have a sense that we must always be ‘doing’ something, using our time effectively, instead of just wiling it away.
There is a rhythm to life which was part of God’s intention in creation. Season following season — spring will come, we just need to be patient. One season a time of rest another, a time of growth, yet another a time of harvest and so on. And we need to find that sense of rhythm in our own lives. In order for us to be all that we can be.
In order for us to live a full, rich life, there need to be times of rest and play, as well as time of work and we need to allow that rhythm to determine our lifestyle.
Instead of rushing to the next thing, instead of feeling there must be something more, yet to come, we should bring ourselves to understand the value of the moment. We need to see that there is value in both times to do, and in times just to be; times to relax and be renewed, to just enjoy one another and the world around us.
Part of God’s prescription for living life in all its fullness, is that we should enjoy each moment that we can, as we learn to tune ourselves to that rhythm that will bring us time for all that we really need.
Let’s just enjoy all the time that God has given us.
Rev. Robert H. Kerr, St. Columba Presbyterian Church, Parksville.