"Time" for the Christian

Time

The basic nature of time

Time is the context for a person’s existence. It personally begins at the moment of one’s conception in a female’s womb, and then it goes on and on and on through various stages of life’s processes for living. Particular moments of time are commonly marked for one’s birth, the annual anniversary of that event, and other important events in one’s life, such as school graduations and one’s marriage, and in the process other historic and cultural events are noted and celebrated in accord with personal and family traditions.

The calculation of time

Most people recognize that time is commonly calculated by the rotation of the earth on its axis and its orbit around the sun. These events mark the days and the years that enable individuals to keep an account of the passing of time. But think for a minute how difficult it would be for an individual to keep track of time without the common tools of clocks and calendars. The form of these modern tools, that many of us probably take for granted, did not just suddenly appear on our walls when we woke up one morning. They have been developed by various individuals who have given their thoughtful attention and creative skills to this matter of the calculation of the passing of time. So we have progressed from circles of stones, as seen at Stonehenge, to sundials to water clocks to gear-driven clocks that were driven by falling weights to electric clocks to tiny watches that are driven by batteries and other forms of clocks and their power sources all to keep track of the passing of the seconds, minutes, and hours of time and various types of calendars to keep track of the passing of days and years. Time marches on, often faster than some of us would like, and its effects tend to get noticed without the aid of clocks and calendars.

The gift of time

Time is God’s gift to you with your conception and birth. You did not do anything to create or to generate it. You do not have any direct control over its operations. You did not choose when it would start for you, and you may not realize it, but it will go on forever for you. Its coming and going are the only factors that all human beings have in common. Everything else in every person’s life throughout all the days of history are different for each individual. As you grow day by day, you may have some choices in how you spend your time, but in a real sense many of these choices are limited or otherwise conditioned by the timing and placement of your initial existence over which you had no control. And the choices that you are able to make in your use of this gift are all made in the now moment of time! That is the only moment in which you can make any personal use of this gift of time.

Past, present, and future factors of time

The events and choices and things that you have done or have happened to you in the past are past. They are parts of your personal history and life story, but there is nothing that you can do in the present to change them. You cannot relive any moment in your past. And the effects of any moment may go on for days and years throughout your life. There is seldom many positive benefits to be received from hanging onto or carrying around a heavy load of bad experiences or poor choices from one’s past, except as they provide positive lessons for new learnings in the present moments of the now.
How you respond to those past events and choices and situations is part of the challenge of living your life in the dynamic of now. All of the work that you will ever accomplish in life will be accomplished in how you use each now moment. All that you will ever experience, remember, learn, receive, gain, achieve, share, loose, love, hate, regret, seek, celebrate, and worship will be encountered in these now moments.
And while you are living in the now, you will have no direct control over any future moments that will come your way. That does not mean that what you do or think or say or believe in the present now moments of your life do not have any effects on your future moments; they do affect your future. That is why one’s wise use of one’s present now moments can produce good benefits for one’s future. The wisdom of this process is commonly seen in the practice of good habits for healthy living and secure saving and investment accounts and careful building projects and loving relationships with family and friends and the faithful care of what one has received, which includes time and money.

A valuable lesson regarding one’s use of time

I am writing this statement at a time when the personal life and career of Tiger Woods is in the spotlight of public attention. The accident that he had on November 27, 2009 at 2:25 A.M. when he drove his car into a fireplug and a tree in his neighborhood in Florida was a now moment that will probably change his life forever. He has a recognized history of trying to keep his private moments of life private while he is willing to share the glories of his golf victories publicly with his fans and sponsors. But this accident tore down the wall that separates some of his private moments from those that are public.
Everyone has secret things that they have done or thought that are very private. Most of these are probably best kept as private personal matters. But they are always known by at least two individuals, that is the individual and God. And they always have some effect on one’s present now moments as well as one’s future moments. Tiger has publicly apologized for letting his “family down”, and he is in the process of trying to repair his marriage and his career. In this process he has probably learned some valuable lessons about how he spends his time, particularly those now moments when he is not on some public golf course but rather is in some lounge with an attractive female fan who is not his wife. Temptations come to everyone, famous and not so famous, successful and not successful, wealthy and not wealthy, attractive and not attractive, married and not married, and they must all be handled in the now moments of one’s life. Tiger Woods is learning this valuable lesson now.

What are you doing with God’s gift of time?

How are you using the now moments of each day as God gives them to you? Each day is a brand new day as the cycle of the earth’s rotation is repeated, but it gives you some fresh new opportunities in your life. Everyday may seem to be the same thing over and over again, but there are significant differences in the details. The seasons of the year change. The days of the week change. Daily chores and responsibilities and schedules change. Contacts and messages change. And the pressures of one’s culture, political situation, and holidays impose their changes on one’s moments of now.