Eric's Sunday Sermon; Our Precious Time and Love
We look up to the Mission bells that signal the time for mass.
Who's time is it anyway?
Every day we are moving forward as though the wind is blowing into our face and ruffling our hair. I like to think of that crazed motorcycle rider without a helmet and no glasses. Now in that case he can either be suffering the effects of blazing through life or he can relish it and just be and feel the freedom.
I am scared of heights but I go to them. I have been known to jump off of cliffs into water, like as high as 60 ft. Talk about a moving rush. So it takes time to move. But it also takes time to sleep. Time actually passes no matter what we as humans do. For some reason we use the phrase “take time”.
If you look at it as time being something we are given by God then it makes sense to say “take time”. We take more from God. And perhaps we could say that you are taking your time from your family when you do something solo or away from them. Which reminds us that if someone is going too slow, we complain that they sure are taking their time.
It would not really be too much of a stretch to understand a thief of time. We also like to use the term “just passing time”. And of course “wasting time”. Surely a boss says “you are on my time”. If you have your fancy phone with you in a grocery store checkout-line you can “use” the time to read messages. We all know that sometimes we spend time. “Killing” time is a strange notion.
On these matters of semantics and how we view time let us end with one of the most interesting concepts of time. “Our” time. It can mean either of two things. Our as in the generic all of our time. But the one we look at is our time as in two or more of us spending our time with each other. This one is special because who we spend our time with is as important as time itself. And if that time is productive then it is really important. We do not refer to productive like making money, but rather productive for our communal souls. Actually being in a moment of love with another could be one’s ultimate goal in life and that would be worthy.
We also must deal with the idea of being with ourselves as though two of us. And spending time with God as though at least two of us – four in my case.
Be a better man
It just a second the cloud formations change
A priority and time
Let us detour to the essence of a God and time. We remember Alpha and Omega meaning the beginning and the end in one. And we understand omnipresent which includes being both behind us and ahead of us at once in linear time speak. It seems that most people can grasp those notions of a God and time. We are not going to do any deep look at string theory or bending time or the like. We are just thinking about our common understanding that time goes forward and is passed. That one second is gone, you cannot go back and do time over.
First let us take some time to look at spending time with ourselves. Many of us enjoy time alone. In fact many of us prefer time alone to time with other folks. It becomes clear that a balance should be reached. Are we comfortable spending time with ourselves and also with others? Because that is what the deal is. It comes down to how we spend time. So if we are filled with hate we spend our time hating. If with love then we spend our time loving. If you look at it that simply then “what you get done” is almost irrelevant. Was the time you spent occupied by love?
Medical problems arise. Sometimes it takes time to heal. And sometimes there is no cure. And furthermore it may mean that your time is winding down. So how do you spend your time when there is a certain amount of pain in every second of time? A good Yogi friend of mine was fond of saying that there is much turmoil and pain in the world, but the good news is that suffering is optional. Did you know that pain and joy and sickness and love can happen at the same time? It really comes down to a choice.
I admit I like to pray and meditate. Maybe to some that is a waste of time. But truthfully science is now concluding that time spent doing such, makes time in the mundane more productive and actually saves time in the long run. But I do not do it to gain and I do not do it out of reverence, maybe I should, but I do it out of the love of doing it. I like getting up there in the God is Love area and I like leaving this consciousness behind for a bit. My wife says it makes me better as a human. My friends say do not stop, we like you better this way than way crazy and knocking people over like bowling pins. (I love a good scrap so much that I create problems) But alas my time is better devoted to love.
Beautiful Women, beautiful voices
Just another day spent at the office
A great song with awesome photos
No time to waste, start changing the past
Hey now I have spent my time writing this and you have spent your time reading it. I hope I did not waste either of our time(s).
So our time is precious. And we just cannot change that. Did you know that the shortest time measured is the time between when the light turns green and the guy behind honks his horn – baby nano seconds or something.
I do try to devote myself to using my time right. But that is really hard. Should I take a nap or should I go on a hike? And we see the silliness of what we choose to do. Do you really think that is what makes our world better? Nope not really. All that time Mother Theresa spent, would not make any difference if it was not generally done in love.
So we got this time thing that keeps on clicking away. Little children have to be taught that time on a tablet with games may take away from time on a pier fishing. They do not get allocation.
But we do. I can spend my time schloshing for the man. Or I can spend my time loving doing a great job. My choice. Your choice.
Have you ever heard a deathbed comment that “I wish I spent more time working”? Not likely. Have you ever heard, even a tough guy, say I wish I had spent less time loving? You all have a choice in time.
Today my 7 year old asked “when I was 4 was I smart”? He and I went back in time. Yes memory is a trickster. Do you think you cannot go back? Foolishness. You can even go back and change perspective like you can tomorrow or this hour. Funny isn’t it. Bowie tells us that we can’t change time but time can change us. Perhaps he is wrong.
Maybe I am nuts and that is OK. I can go back and change my memory from that teacher being mean to me to thank goodness that that teacher set me straight.
Time is not your prison warden. Time is what you make of it. I like going back and changing my perspective to one of love. Go for it, you can do it also. Think how much more you can love your parents if you change your perspective of that time.