Time is a weird and wonderful concept. We live on the edge of time, always stuck at the boundary between past and future. Both are mostly hidden from us, though we can understand what has happened in the past more accurately than we can predict what will happen in the future. However, time is not smooth: it comes in lumps. I’m not trying to blind you with science here - rather, just to make a commonplace observation.
Time is lumpy. It’s lumpy within each day, as we notice and enjoy some moments more than others: good news, meeting a friend, eating. It’s lumpy within each week, month and year, as we enjoy sport, go on holiday, and resume our normal routine. Time seems to run faster as we get older, but in our lives we each go through periods of certainty, periods of questioning, periods of searching, periods of challenge, and periods of finding.
It is natural to seek safety and meaning in our lives. Families and the roles we play in society help to provide these, but we also find satisfaction in things and experiences, for a while - until something changes, and we become uncertain, somehow unfulfilled or dissatisfied. Sometimes we notice a nagging question surfacing, one that we have been putting off for years: something else, a forgotten purpose, deeper meaning.
Maybe it is time, for you: the time, the right time, time for a change, or time to do something you’ve been putting off before it is too late. This at least is certain about the future: time will run out, for each one of us. Nobody stays young forever. Another thing is certain: there are 24 hours in the day, no matter who we are. Nobody gets 25 or 23.
Is it time?
Can you hear the call?