Month: March 2014

Do you have the time?

Daylight savings time popped in again last night, sucking an hour from my sleep. It’s not all bad. On windy days, hubby will be able to windsurf after work. And that means a happy hubby.

Hubby windsurfing © Jane F Thompson
Hubby windsurfing

Since the benefit lasts until I gain back that hour of sleep in November, it outweighs the drawbacks.

my grandmothers clock © Jane F Thompson
my Grandmothers clock

But isn’t time about so much more than pushing our clocks forward an hour?

Having more daylight at the end of the day?

I could list quotes about time all day.

“In every season there is a time . . . “ “Just in the nick of time . . . “ “It’s about time!”

“Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.” Carl Sandburg

“Waste your money and you’re only out of money, but waste your time and you’ve lost a part of your life.” Michael LeBoeuf

“Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.” William Penn

“Humans are amphibians – half spirit and half animal. As spirits they belong to the eternal world, but as animals they inhabit time.” C. S. Lewis

If Lewis is right, if we are half spirit, but we pour most of our time and energy into this physical world, could we be missing a huge chunk of ourselves, of how our lives were meant to be lived?

From the moment Adam and Eve were ushered out of the garden, they set up housekeeping, worked the earth, began the cycle of life we all know from birth to death.

And they left behind unhurried walks with God in the cool of the evening.

Can you imagine unhurried walks with God?

Wouldn’t you drop everything for even one sunset stroll with the Creator?

In the cool of the evening © Jack H Thompson
in the cool of the evening

Like Adam and Eve, we are barred from the garden, lest we eat of the Tree of Life that would keep us stuck like this forever.

But, unlike Adam and Eve, not only do we live outside of the garden, we live on the other side of the cross.

Jesus came to redeem us, to redeem the world, to set things right.

To restore us.

So that we can spend time with God — whether in the cool of the evening or the crispness of a morning.

Our Creator and Redeemer is waiting.

Can you spare the time?

“But God’s not finished. He’s waiting around to be gracious to you. He’s gathering strength to show mercy to you. God takes the time to do everything right—everything. Those who wait around for him are the lucky ones. “  Isaiah 30:17-19  The Message

crisp morning © Jack H Thompson
crisp morning

“And now to him who can keep you on your feet, standing tall in his bright presence, fresh and celebrating—to our one God, our only Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Master, be glory, majesty, strength, and rule before all time, and now, and to the end of all time. Yes.“  Jude 1:24-25 The Message

Forty days?

This week, many Christians begin observing forty days of Lent. Forty days marked many significant events in the Biblical narrative: Noah floating in the ark, Moses on the mountain with God, the Hebrews scouting the Promised Land, Goliath taunting Saul’s army until David picks up his slingshot, Jesus fasting in the wilderness before he begins his ministry on earth.

And, like Jesus, we are being called to forty days in the desert.

© Jane Foard Thompson
crown of thorns

Rather than Lent, perhaps life itself has called you into the desert. Illness, disability, dementia, losing a dream, job, home, loved one or a relationship . . . the desert places are open to all of us.

© Jane Foard Thompson
succulent in desert

And whether we come out on the other side at all, or haggard and bitter, or lean and ready to really live, depends on how we respond in our desert time.

© Jane Foard Thompson
In silence of the desert

In truth, we don’t want the desert. In our culture, pain is an enemy to be avoided at all costs, from the ever-present ibuprofen bottle, to drug or alcohol abuse, and even assisted suicide. Others of us are running ahead, doing the right things, working very hard to keep it all together.

However, in The Healing Path, Dan Allender says,

“God promises us redemption, but his sacred path leads us away from safety, predictability, and comfort. Any attempt to fly over the dangerous terrain or make a detour to safe ground is doomed because it will not take us to God. Instead, it leads to a host of other idols that can’t provide us with the confidence of faith, the dynamic of hope, or the passion of love we so deeply crave.”

The Healing Path

Only in the desert, we become the people we were created to be, living the life we were meant to live.

“It is in the poverty of the desert that we see clearly our attachments to the trinkets and baubles we cling to for security and pleasure. The desert shatters the soul’s arrogance and leaves body and soul crying out in thirst and hunger. In the desert, we trust God or we die.”

The Healing Path

Trust God or die.

When Eve didn’t trust God, and ate the fruit instead, she died to all her life could have been in the garden, including evening walks with God.

God sent Adam and Eve out of the garden, into the desert were they would learn how much they needed him.

And every time we chose our own way, in place of God’s pathway, we eat that fruit again.

© Jane Foard Thompson
thorny desert plant

“The healing path must pass through the desert or else our healing will be the product of our own will and wisdom.”

The Healing Path

So, where are you heading for your forty days?

Recommendations for study: The Healing Path, Dan B Allender, Ph.D., WaterBrook Press, 2002
YouVersion Lenten studies
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers, Barbour and Company, Inc., original copyright 1935