My clock
Good Morning,
To every thing there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
Ecclesiastes 3:1
from Simple Abundance, A Daybook of Comfort and Joy,
by Sarah Ban Breathnach
“Once upon a time.
Up until this time.
For the time being.
Time and time again.
Time’s up!
time’s mystery is difficult for most women to appreciate because we’ve so little of it. Although we’ve all been allotted twenty-four hours each day, it doesn’t seem to go very far. So if we experience anything a all, it’s dread, because we keep running out of time. Again and again. And it doesn’t matter what kind of time it is —Greenwich, daylight saving, standard, eastern, mountain, central or pacific. All that matters is we never seem to have enough of it.Which is why all women I know constantly feel time worn.
. . .
In order to know a semblance of serenity during the days of our lives, we also need to discover Time’s twin mature, which the ancient Greeks called chronos and kairos.
Chronos is clocks, deadlines, watches, calendars, agendas, planners, schedules, beepers. Chronos is time at here worst. Chronos keeps track. Chronos is a delusion of grandeur. Chronos is running the Marine Corps marathon in heels. In chronos we think only of ourselves. Chronos is the world’s time.
Kairos is transcendence, infinity, reverence, joy, passion, loev, the Sacred. Kairos is intimacy with the Real. Kairos is time at her best. Kairos lets go. In kairos we escape the dungeon of self. Kairos is a Schubert waltz in nineteenth-century Vienna with your soul mate. Kairos is Spirit’s time.
We exist in chronos. We long for kairos. That’s our duality. Chronos requires speed so that it won’t be wasted. Kairos requires space so that it might be savored. We do in chronos. In kairos we’re allowed to be.
So how do we exchange chronos for kairos?
By slowing down.
By concentrating on one thing at a time.
By going about whatever we are doing as if it were the only thing worth doing at that moment.
By pretending we have all the time in the world, so that our subconscious will kick in and make it so.
By making time.
By taking time.
It only takes a moment to cross over from chronos into kairos, but it does take a moment. All that kairos asks in our willingness to stop running long enough to hear the music of the spheres.
Today, be willing to join in the dance.
Now you’re in kairos.”
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie
Thoughts of Grace 