The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once. ~Albert Einstein
We think we are time’s master and manager, but we live as if time has mastered us.
In The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis cleverly imagines the life of a Christian from the perspective of demons, relentlessly at work to pull us from the path of God. We want man hag-ridden by the Future, Screwtape, a Senior Tempter gloats. We want a whole race perpetually in pursuit of the rainbow’s end, never honest, nor kind, nor happy …(Letter #15)
Eighty years after that was written, I wonder if Screwtape has achieved his goal.
A moment in time
On a recent morning I stood in line at Starbucks. In front of me a family placed a lengthy, unhurried, exquisitely elaborate order. Impatient that the wait for a simple cup of coffee would take minutes, rather than seconds, I grimaced at the gentleman behind me. He smiled kindly and told me he never let such things bother him. Embarrassed, I let out the air of minor outrage.
We then engaged in a delightful conversation about coffee, family and life. It was a moment of connection that required both time and presence. And a decision on my part to stop being hag-ridden by the rest of my day.
We were made for more
Our Creator has made us for eternity, and the present moment is where time and eternity meet. The wily Screwtape knows that God wants us to concentrate on
- “Obeying the present voice of conscience,
- Bearing the present cross,
- Receiving the present grace,
- Giving thanks for the present pleasure.”
Planning for tomorrow, or the rest of today, is necessary, but we are not meant to give our hearts to a temporal future that does not even exist.
What keeps you from “receiving the present grace?” What have you learned to help us live in the present?
6 replies on “Time and Eternity”
Very “timely” Janet! So easy to get caught up in the urgent and miss the NOW. Mostly recently I have been trying to spend more time in praise and thanksgiving – actually looking for even the small ways that God is pouring His love on me. Saying these outloud or journaling them has helped change my perspective for the moment… Thanks again for this blog – it feels like we are sitting in the living room with a cup of tea and good conversation 🙂
What great ideas! And a cup of tea and nourishing conversation is what we were made for, isn’t it?
Augustine has a lengthy explication in Confessions about how he doubts time even exists as we understand it. He believes that the only way we can truly experience “time” as such is through memory which, in itself, suggests a ‘then’ as separate from a ‘now.’ As cryptic and acid-trip as this sounds, it does offer the possibility for treating time as something mystical rather than something mechanical. For what it’s worth…R
I wonder if Lewis was thinking of Augustine when he wrote. He does say that dwelling on the “future” is as far from God as we can get. Thanks, Rob!
Very thought-provoking post. God is patiently teaching me that anything that keeps us from the present moment – whether agonizing over past failures or worrying about the future – keeps us from God.
-Claudia
Very well put, Claudia. Thank you!