Thinking about time....

 I’ve been thinking a lot about “time” recently…… partly because we recently lost my 98 year old Dad to cancer over an intense period of about 6 weeks from diagnosis to passing away. It seemed so cruel to survive all the deprivations of Covid only to succumb to cancer … it does make you aware again of your own mortality and what you are doing with your life.  Alongside this personal story I have been enjoying this amazing book by a favourite author Kate Bowler about her personal struggles with cancer, loss and her faith in God.  I love her honesty…… would recommend the read to everyone, it is a thoughtful, funny book and not at all depressing.  She reflects among other things on the nature of time.  One of the stories I particularly enjoyed was about her Father, a brilliant but struggling academic who never really found his place in the higher echelons of University life and eventually decides that his teaching job is ruining his health and resigns.  He says to his last group of students “Well, that’s it I guess.  I look at the calendar and there is not enough time left to learn Chinese.  I always wanted to learn Chinese.  And what is the difference between rap and hip hop…. I’ve heard people say that life is like a roll of toilet paper: the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes……..”  “The next day when he goes to collect his things from his office, he almost trips over a stack of toilet paper sitting outside of his door.  He picks up a roll and it unwinds to the floor, scrawled with blue ink.  It is the definition of rap versus hip hop.  It is a rudimentary lesson in Chinese characters.  And the students had written a friendly admonition ‘SLOW  DOWN. THERE’S STILL PLENTY OF TIME’”.

I have taken that admonition for myself…….. in a week when my back gave way, I got a cold, I felt like friends and family let me down and I was reflecting on my own mortality, I have written “SLOW DOWN. THERE’S STILL PLENTY OF TIME” on a card that I see every morning as I sit to read my bible and start my day reflecting on God.

Kate talks about 3 ways of viewing time……. Tragic Time, Apocalyptic Time and Pastoral Time…….. apparently well known views of time but new to me.  TRAGIC TIME of course is what I and many others travel through when the unexpected suddenly happens…… loss of a loved one, job, finances, health - you can fill in the blanks…… you wake up one morning and the world has changed overnight.  APOCALYPTIC  TIME which we have all been living in for so long with COVID and CLIMATE CHANGE where it feels like massive things are changing and we can do nothing to affect them. And then there is PASTORAL or ORDINARY TIME which is where we need to spend time for our own well-being and mental health, where we do not deny all the big stuff going on but we are more in tune with the times, seasons and rhythms of life.  

Just this week my lovely husband and I managed to make time to visit the “Museum of the Moon” at Chichester Cathedral.  It was so refreshing just to sit for a moment in that beautiful space and reflect on eternity and the fact that there is someone in charge who will have the last word, who loves you and me and the beautiful world that He created.