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VauTime 07-12-133 Time Peace Living
Here and Now with a Timeless God Ellen Vaughn Zondervan,
2007, 238 pp., ISBN 0-310-26726-3 |
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Ellen Vaughn is
the author of several books but is best known for her books with Charles
Colson. She lives in Virginia with her
husband, three children, an enormous dog, and a small, emergency back-up pup
named Gus. Vaughn explores time in
relation to our own experience, to history, to God, to science, and to significance. Her thoughts instigate a sense of both
wonder and peace. "Perhaps
many of us are missing one of the most fundamental distinctions of real
Christianity: peace." "How can we really live with
distinction, at peace in a culture so full of stress and 'hurry
sickness'? And how do we live our days
in gladness and satisfaction, like Moses prayed, making them count?"
(16-17) "Beauty
hurts because it passes. Immutable
Beauty awaits, but we do not see it yet.
And here in the shadow-lands, life's spool unwinds. Its strands are golden and dark, heavy and
light. The wheel won't stop. There is no rewind, no redo. No second draft." (30) "Here, you see, it takes all the running you can do to
keep in the same place. If you want to
get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!" "The
reality of God's infinitude also has very practical ramifications. If God is really beyond the constraints of
time, unhindered and unperplexed by it, then those who believe in Him can be
free to live in absolute peace in time.
We can be freed from time's chafing anxiety." (49) "Time is
not our enemy when we are friends with God.
It is but a resource to be used, like food or oxygen." (49) "Because
God gives those who receive Him eternal life, our perspective of time can be
radically different." (49) "Anxiety
about time and schedules can shape our lives, narrow our relationships, and
deaden our days." (50) "The
wristwatch is the handcuff of our time." (61) "The subliminal message from the watch and the clock
is: time is running out; life is winding down; please hurry."
"Dr. Larry Dossey, Space,
Time and Medicine "All…our
comfort takes time to pay for. And
affluence wants to increase; it carries within it an unspoken command:
More!" (64, quoting Peggy Noonan) "But the
problem is, our speedy technologies often become masters rather than
tools. We can become addicted with
speed for speed's sake and lose touch with anything that is
time-consuming. Like
relationships." (66) "City life
is measured by the 'honko-second,' the measure of time between the traffic
light turning green and the driver of the car behind you blowing his
horn." (68) "Chronic
impatience becomes bottled wrath." (69) "If
adrenaline flows in response to a chronic state of stress--rather than being
on reserve for emergencies--it's like revving a car engine to a hundred miles
per hour, then leaving it to idle at that speed." (69) "And at
high speed, anything that takes too much time--like helping the weak, needy,
and slow, or cultivating real relationships with family, friends, and God
Himself--is thrown behind, left like litter on the sideline of a race to
nowhere fast." (72) "Are we
stressed and obsessed by time? Or are
we at peace?" (73) "Time
itself is a gift. It's not a right to
which we are entitled, something we use however we want." (73) Time passes
relentlessly. "But by the choices
we make, and the priorities we take, we can maximize and exploit each day's
opportunities like an investor, figuring out how to best use each moment for
the greatest return--not for ourselves, but for the Master's account."
(77) "Going to
funerals is a useful practice. The
solemnity of remembering a life well or poorly lived can remind us what is
truly important in how we use time." (80) "Controllers
can appear to be disciplined, productive, and virtuous." "But if people are control-driven,
rather than Spirit-driven, they aren't much fun to be around." (97)
"'Time-saving'
skills and devices can help us get more done in fewer minutes--but that's not
necessarily the goal. The steward's
goal is to serve Christ, to use the time He has given us to extend His Kingdom." "It is about trusting God, listening
for His voice, and following His
cues rather than compulsively keeping our own schedules." (101) "Really,
theologically speaking, the journey of the believer is one of relinquishing control, not getting
more of it." (102) "It's easy
to nod to stewardship but still speak of 'my' time and 'my' plans and 'my'
life." (102) "Time's
perceived scarcity or plenty can spur people to do things--or not do
things--more so than the beliefs they say
are most important." (105) "If our
view of God is too small, our view of time gets too big." (110) "The notion
that time can become an idol may sound ridiculous. No one would set out to worship time. But does it have its claws in us? Has a habitual preoccupation with busyness,
stress, pressure, productivity, and hurry crowded out a preoccupation with
the glory of God, not to mention a basic contentment
with His gift of life?" (110) "It's a
heart issue, a question of just where our highest allegiances lie. If we say we are God's people but spend
most of our time pursuing our own ends, our actions in time show our real
priority. And while exhortations to be
more disciplined, to try harder, and to plan more carefully are fine, all our
determined works will not cause us to become passionate stewards of God's
time. Only grace can do it."
(111) "What if
the way that you and I have habitually thought about time our entire lives is
in fact as limiting as the way people used to think about the shape of the
earth? What if there is a different
way to perceive time, a way that has the distinct virtue of being true--a way
that can help open a whole new way to live?" (115) "If time is
elastic enough, and God is big enough, then we might even be able to get out
of our usual boxes and bid anxiety and stress farewell" (115) "Precisely
because it is counterintuitive, mind-bending, and strange, considering the
real nature of time can open our eyes to a new vision of how huge God really
is." (116) "Being a
real steward is not just a set of disciplines we develop, great as that
is. It is a fundamental way of
thinking. It is an undergirding life
philosophy so compelling that it determines our self-concept, our priorities
and practices. It is all about serving
a God who is the author of history, the Lord of surprise, the absolute Master
who is way, way beyond the ordinary flow of time and reality as we so often
perceive it." (126) "Einstein
said that time is affected by motion through space. Time is not constant and unchanging, but
speeds up, or slows down, dependent on how fast a person or object is
traveling." (132) "The
constant thing in our Universe isn't space or the flow of time but the speed
of light. And everything else in the
Universe has no choice but to adjust itself to maintain light in its
preeminent position." "Most of us
still instinctively think of time as constant, that tick, tick, tick, that
does not change. But time is
relative. It squishes."
(141) Both mass and time are relative
to the speed of light. (144) "The closer
one approaches the speed of light, the more slowly time goes by." (145) "The
furthest objects the Hubble space telescope has reported are galaxies well
over 12 billion light years away. In
other words, the light we see from them has taken 12 billion years to reach
the Hubble. That is a long way to look
back in time." When we look at
the sun, we see it as now, but that 'now' is really not now, but eight
minutes ago. (150) "Is it not
intriguing that the closer one gets to absolute velocity--the speed of
light--the slower time moves? Is it
not compelling that light holds 'the preeminent position' in the universe? This is 'not dexterous wordplay, sleight of
hand, or psychological illusion. This
is how the universe works. So in
essence, a being who could ride a light beam--as in Einstein's fanciful
daydreams in his youth--would not age at all.
For a being who moves at the speed of light, time would not move. This being would exist in an eternal
now. This ageless Being, moving at the
speed of light, existing in eternity…might He, to some degree, be light? 'God
is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.'" "Is God
light? Surely we can't pin down the
nature of God Himself, as if He can be analyzed, calibrated, and clocked at
670 million miles per hour. God is not
an object. But the more we know about
the actual nature of light, the more the biblical use of the image
intensifies our appreciation of the Divine.
Science can be a lens that magnifies God's wonders. Looking through it, we can begin to deduce
from the creation the glories of its Creator." (161) "If we want
to live with a new sense of peace in time, we need new ways of thinking about
it--and about the God who made it."
(163) "If our
conception of this awesome God is too small, our stewardship will be small
too." "We'll take our time
cues from the hurry-sick culture around us rather than from a perspective of
what lasts for eternity." (163) "When I
consider the real nature of light, my gut gets involved… I am bowed by God's
grandeur, shocked by the cavalier way I sometimes think of Him, scandalized
by the complacency with which I often live.
When we see God as utterly higher than ourselves, then we're on our
way to relating all else in proper proportion." "Creation
proclaims the glory of God; science shows forth the wonders of creation. Scientific information is a tremendous tool
to sharpen blunted brains that need to be honed in order to perceive God more
clearly." (164) "Science's
tools do show forth the enormity, elegance, and enigmas of the universe. Science reveals aspects of time that make
us more awestruck by what the Bible says about eternity. Scientific knowledge reveals beauties and
wonders we'd otherwise not know. Each
of us must decide how to respond to these wonders.' (169) "The more
one knows about the world and everything in it, the more God's power stops
our breath with awe." (169) "You
can tell me that God's ways are higher than my own, and I believe it. But show
me through science that enormous gulf between the heavens and the earth, and
my hair stands on end.' (173) "It's titillating
to think that He may sometimes operate according to natural laws that are
little know, unknown, or in other dimensions that we cannot yet
perceive…." (189) "…we're
stewards of however many days He gives us.
And the treasure of God's grace is that Jesus not only gives us the
future riches of eternity. He can also
give us rich joy in the present of our days on earth." (197) "It's
utterly countercultural to make the steward's assertion that our time is not
our own. In our egalitarian,
rights-oriented culture, the common view is that of course it's our time. End of story. But the steward hears the tick of a
different clock. All time is God's; He
created it, just as He created us, just as He created all things. The ultimate goal of life, in every breath,
is to serve Him, to enjoy Him and His creation, to revel, really, in His
presence. This true freedom is only
found, paradoxically, in being a bond-servant. Otherwise we end up being a slave to
whatever random thing that happens to master us." (202) "It's
countercultural today to buck the obsession with hurry. 'Sitting at Jesus' feet,' so to speak, takes
time. The spiritual priorities of
prayer, meditation on the Scriptures, fellowship in the community of
believers, and serving the needy all require real time investments. They can't be put off until 'later,' when
we have more time. This is a lie Satan
loves to whisper in our ears. Later … later. It lulls us to
sleep." (202) "But in
order to stay tethered to a real understanding of God, rather than turning
Him into a small, dim creation of our own imaginations, we have to use time
to seek Him as He really is. Since He
is so beyond us, this can't be done on the quick. Discerning the holy, holy, holy God
requires concentration and attentiveness.
If we grab God on the run like a bagel, our conception of Him shrinks
to carry-out size. And if our god is
too small, we end up, eventually, in the grip of ridiculous idols."
(203) |
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