I NEED SOME TIME OFF!

“I am always behind!” “I never get everything done!”  “There is too much to do!” “I don’t have enough time!”

I hear stuff like this often. Time is a way that people measure events, thoughts, actions, expectations, memories. As such it can be useful. A friend of mine said that if we didn’t have time, everything would happen all at once. So time is a sorting method. According to physicists it is a malleable sorting method, a man-made measurement. I like to think of time as a servant. But when I let it move into the slavemaster role, my life loses some of its sparkle.

In Einstein’s famous theory of relativity, it was time/space that he discovered to be relative. Basically the equation indicates that time slows down as we approach the speed of light. You see in movies the illustration of how a person on earth ages while a space traveller comes back after years away, still youthful. We can begin to grasp elements of this theory on earth by keeping time as a servant rather than a master.

Metaphysically, the Bible says that God is light. Could we say that as we approach God’s light, time recedes and eternity takes over? Many people have been educated to think that eternity represents a very long time. I think of eternity as no time at all—no past and no future—but only now. Haven’t we all had experiences of timelessness when we are so engaged with an enjoyable activity that we just live in the present?

We can use time as an organizer, honoring punctuality (being in the right place at the right time) but not being enslaved by the clock. One thing I am refusing to say is that I am behind. I don’t have to see myself in that light. Time and fear can be woven together. As I challenge fear, I find it easier to be where I need to be and doing what I need to do with grace and ease. Many times I have found time expanding and punctuality increasing as I turn my day over to the eternity of divine light.

Mary Baker Eddy writes, “God measures time according to the good that is unfolded.” This makes a wonderful life philosophy, feeling right and balanced as good unfolds, rather than inadequate and behind, experiencing synchronicity instead of missed opportunity.

If you sometimes fall in to the “time as master” category, then the best thing you can do is take some time off. Have you heard the term “quantum leap?” It refers to the move made by an electron going from one orbit to another. The interesting thing about the quantum leap is that it takes no time. The electron is here and then immediately there. No lapse of time. This is how thought travels too. When we feel all wrong, we can immediately take that quantum leap into the whole, serene, capable, intelligent, spacious now.

“I have all the time in the world,” a very busy woman once told me when I apologized for taking her time. I learned a lot from hearing that. Time is just a worldly concept and as we approach the speed of light, or eternity, time slows down and balance and accomplishment grows.

Aging is another of time’s tricks. As we think of ourselves more in the image and likeness of God, aging doesn’t carry such a heavy weight. God is old, right? But most people don’t think of God as deteriorating over time. Spirit doesn’t decay. God lives in eternity and is the same forever. As God’s image, our true being is the same. Why let time enslave us with worry over material changes? I think of embracing my body in my thought rather than being trapped in a body, and put time in the servant category rather than the worry category in that way.

When I feel impatient to get somewhere or do something, I remind myself that I have all the time in the world. I have enough time to do what is needed. I have the quality of punctuality built in to me, as everyone does. I think of punctuality as I think of synchronicity in music. Harmony happens when the right notes appear at the right place in the right time and style and dynamic. Like a note in music, I have my place and part to play in God’s harmony. As I embrace this concept of punctuality, I find myself being and doing all that needs doing and being at this moment. I live less in the past or the future with its regrets and worries and more in the now.

We can use what is useful about time to order our days, but let’s not let it frustrate or order us around or make us feel behind and inadequate. Do you need some time off? Me too. Let’s get time off our back and put it under our feet.

Since we know that all things are possible to God, we can begin each day and each project by giving our consent to the possibility that we will have exactly the right thoughts and opportunities and abilities that we need and be able to do exactly what we need to do and do it thoroughly and well each moment in this day. The Bible says of Jesus, “He hath done all things well.” The same Christ that was in him is in us. Why not take time off and put on Christ, working in us always to do the right thing at the right time?

SH 584:4     Mark 7:37