Time is a funny thing, especially as we consider God has put eternity in our hearts. We are finite, tied to time as well as eternal, made in the image of our Creator to live for eternity. If you are like me, you occasionally get frustrated with time.
Henri Nouwen once wrote: “When we let divided time like hours, minutes, and seconds control us, the ability to dream, and relationships, get pushed out of our lives.”
I feel that tension between time and relationships instinctively. So how do we go about not being slaves to time but living in it while still tethered to eternity? Learning to blend time and relationships and the eternal is what I suspect it is about.
Listening to our Creator is central, investing in this as our primary relationship. This relationship helps us gain insights and wisdom from outside of time. These in turn inform how best to live in our constraints of time. It also expands our ability to think and dream and hope.
There are many ways to grow a relationship with God. Reading and learning the Bible is foundational, but so are worship and prayer. Those are what I think of as our vertical relation ship building ‘tools.’
Yes, there are also horizontal relationship building ‘tools.’ Through interaction with other followers of Jesus, especially those farther along in our journeys here in time and with the Lord, we learn from each other and grow. Service to others gets us outside of ourselves and often stretches us to trust and depend on God more.
There are may more ways to connect so we can develop a deeper relationship with our maker. We are each unique and relate to God and other people differently. How do you connect best with God and others? I look forward to hearing from you to learn what works for you.
In the end I guess it all comes down to choices. Choices are something we get to take responsibility for. My personal choices do not always bring the most fruitful results, but I keep walking with Jesus and with grace, truth and time, I see increasing fruitfulness And time becomes more of a friend than a foe.
Food for thought: What is Holy Spirit inviting you to do, or to not do so you can be less a slave to time and more in relationship with Creator, others and increasingly at peace in your own skin?
