it's about time

wow! where has the time gone?!? only time will tell i suspect. the hands on the clock keep ticking and tocking away with persistent and consistent regularity. i have discovered that we can certainly rely on the passage of time.

we can count on time.

i have also discovered that time creates a space for looking...a space for looking back and ahead...a space for reflection and anticipation. time has a spatial element to it, but the space isn't necessarily fixed. it can be fluid. in fact, one song writer would have us to believe that time is fluid: "time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin' into the future..." after all, time flies :-) and on the flip side, we are familiar with expressions such as 'frozen in time' and 'time stood still.' the point is that the hands of time can give us a place to reflect on perhaps how we'd like to 'turn back time.' conversely, it can give us a place to anticipate when the 'time is ripe.'

but, believe it or not, you can't actually 'kill time' even though that's what you tell the sales associate when you're waiting for someone or something, as if you have loads of 'spare time'...but it could be that you're 'wasting time' :-) and 'stop the clock' only implies that a timer was initiated and not that time has actually been stopped or that you can 'save time' by stopping the clock.

you get the point.

now on the side topic of ticking and tocking, i must interject that i love onomatopoeias.

roar

grunt

oink

plop

meow

scratch

bark

thump

um...sorry...i got distracted by sound words...

back to ticking and tocking and time and place.

we recently did the whole daylight saving time thing. you know...spring ahead. it will happen again in reverse in november. you got it...fall back. in the meantime, grass will grow, flowers will bloom, the sun will rise and set, there will be full and half and harvest moons, work will pick up then slow down then pick up again, you'll go on vacation, errands will be run and appointments attended, you'll celebrate your birthday and maybe an anniversary, there will be births and parties and weddings and funerals, you'll finish that book you started ages ago and maybe start another one, the car will break down, you'll miss the bus, you'll catch a cab, you'll take a nap...basically, it's about time...

you know, it's interesting...that phrase. it's about time. it's typically used as a preface or a conclusion, and always in relation to someone finally getting around to something or something finally happening. like, "well, it's about time you showed up." or, "he got a job. well, it's about time." when you hear the phrase "it's about time," it's almost always about the individual, but i propose we consider the expression in the context of what it actually suggests because it really is about time...and time is about space or place. there must be an avenue...there must be room...there must be a reason...and time will tell when it's time because there will be activity and a filled void or a journey begun...when the time is right...but it actually is about time.

we talk about moments in time and taking our time as if time is ours...and you know what? it is. but, we can't mistake the fact that we don't have all the time in the world, because we might only be able to lay claim to the nick of time.

the bible says "my times are in His Hand," a verse i have clung to while fighting leukemia, and it has made me realize that each day i have 24 hrs, or 1 440 minutes, or 86 400 seconds to manage my time and i have to make each hour, each minute, and each second count. meanwhile, i know God is watching the clock as the ultimate time keeper.

as of today, i am 269 days post bone marrow/stem cell transplant. while my days, hours, minutes, and seconds have included many bumps that still persist, i am certainly in a better state than i was when i first got sick in october 2012. thankfully my transplant worked and today i am leukemia free, thanks to science, medicine, and many prayers. each moment of my journey has been in God's loving Hand. the bible also says that God "saw me before i was born. every day of my life was recorded in Your book. every moment was lid out before a single day had passed." because of God's gift of time for my life, He has been aware of every moment...because they have been in His Hand.

it really is about time. there is a season for everything. there is a time and a place. and we can count on it, even if it's "one day at a time, sweet Jesus that's all i'm asking from You. give me the strength to do everyday what i have to do. yesterday's gone, sweet Jesus, and tomorrow may never be mine. so for my sake teach me to take one day at a time."

and one more biblical perspective from the book of ecclesiastes: "again i looked throughout the earth and saw that the swiftest person does not always win the race, nor the strongest man the battle, and that wise men are often poor, and skillful men are not necessarily famous; but it is all by chance, by happening to be at the right place at the right time."

it's about time...