Beyond Time

Ever do something and lose track of time?

If you are a busy, task-oriented person, you may spend most of your time trying to complete as much as you can. Time becomes the enemy as you work as hard as possible to make the most use of every minute. In many ways, we're all frustrated and shackled by time, perhaps because it reminds us of our limits.

If you’re like me, you may be tied to the clock as you are bombarded by life’s demands. It seems we are more bound by time when we worry about the future or excessively ponder our past.

Yet our heart yearns for more—something beyond time. Thankfully, there are moments where time seems to stand still.

• When you stay up late playing board games at a family reunion
• When you see your newborn child for the first time
• When playing the piano or painting
• When looking at a distant mountain range or nearby butterfly

The heart wants to be in the world of the here and now, where we can fully lose ourselves in what’s before us.

Enjoy this poem about being fully present to others and God and losing track of time.

Beyond Time

~

One day time won’t have its way

And lose its force and potent sway

When times’ great shackles lift from me

Delights will come, I'll be so free

~

From this bondage of the clock

Where all our days are under lock

Bound by minutes, hours too

But one day they’ll be out of view

~

Time will fall like thuds of clay

God’s Presence will arise and say

"Time was only burden when

You stressed about what might have been

~

Looking for some earthly way,”

That's when Time will up and say:

"I've got you now, you total wretch

Unknown to you, there's just one catch

~

Look to God and go beyond

The here and now, as though a wand

Yet, look below and you'll be trapped

And into Time you will be wrapped"

~

So today, escape from time

Focus on the rare sublime

Find that luminescent grace

Then rest in His resounding space.

So, gaze at nature, write a play

Ask dear friends to come and stay

~

Watch your kids do something wild

See the world as though a child

Stare at flowers and the stars

Catch bright bugs in Mayo jars

~

Carve a turtle, fix a bike

Talk with friends till late at night

Hold a hand that’s hurting still

Stroll through parks with time to kill

Find the beauty in these things

Then as a vapor Time takes wings

Questions to Contemplate

When have you “lost track of time” while enjoying something wonderful?

Do you yearn to connect your heart to the beauty of the present moment with God?

Would you be willing to pause from time to time to be still and simply enjoy the beauty of something near you?