A Moment in Time

Today I found myself thanking God for time. This is not something I usually do. More commonly I experience time as a commodity of which I never have enough; or I grieve over its rapid passing - especially on holidays!

But this morning I had a quite different experience. As I walked over to the church the sky was filled with the most wonderful sunrise. Against the golds, yellows, pinks and streaks of blue stood the striking dark silhouettes of winter trees whilst birds, also in silhouette, flew across the sky. Instead of rushing into church I turned and stood for a moment simply to look.

As I looked I found myself thanking God for his beautiful creation, something I probably do quite often. But then I moved on and thanked God for the gift of sight with which to see and enjoy it; and then, as naturally as anything, I found myself thanking God for time. I cannot remember ever having thanked God for time in quite this way before.

I realised that one of the elements that made the experience so beautiful, was its transient nature. How much we would miss if we only had one skyscape, however beautiful. Imagine living without the dramatic darkness of gathering storm clouds or the wonderful northern light we have enjoyed lately when the skies have been clear and blue. Imagine not watching the sky change as the sun goes down or never experiencing a fine English summer's day. All these are gifts of nature that can and do only exist in time.

Time is much more a gift of God than a curse. It is probably our mishandling of time; our desire to bend it to our rules that makes it sometimes feel like something we are constantly fighting. It is because we will not bend gently with the passing of the years but struggle frantically to retain the looks and power of youth, that we fail to find within the passage of time each period's gifts. "Enjoy your children while you have them. The time passes so quickly,"; people used to say to me in gloom-laidened terms. Well, they were right: it did. But then we are moved to a new place, with other possibilities undreamed of when all our time was consumed by the right demands of our young.

Time is a precious commodity but not simply because like sand it trickles through our fingers at a rate of knots, but because in itself it is part of the very gift of life itself. Without the passage of time nothing would change, grow or develop; nothing would die. There would be no space for the myriad beauties of this world as well as the endless irritations. It seems in time you can't have the gift without the hassle but perhaps if we learn not "to beat the clock", "turn back time", "kill time", or try to cram too many things into this limited dimension (i.e. too many things into a day) we might be in a better position to enjoy the gifts it offers and to thank God who gave it to us.

"Look well to this day, for it is life, the very life of life. In it lies all the realities and verities of existence: the bliss of growth, the glory of action, splendour of beauty. For yesterday is but a dream, and tomorrow only a vision. But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well, therefore, to this day, for it and it alone is life! Such is the salutation of the dawn." (Sanskrit poem)

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