God's Time

    Within the last month and a half I've been reading a lot, devouring books actually. Books, ideas, poetic language are a great source of comfort and inspiration for me, tracing back to fond memories of having my parents read to me until I was old enough to read to them.

    Once in a while I browse through Amazon.com's suggestions based off of what I've previously added to my wish list or have bought. Sometimes these suggestions aren't that great, sometimes I find exactly what I'm looking for, and other times I am surprised by a gem. One such gem was Dr. Marcia McFee and Rev. Karen Foster's Spiritual Adventures in the Snow. The title captured my attention, however, I missed the subtitle until I began to read it, Skiing and Snowboarding as Renewal for Your Soul.

   For those of you who know me best are you laughing yet? I am not a huge fan of snow and I most certainly don't ski or snowboard. And yet, this book was full of such powerful spiritual wisdom. One such insight focused around those times when you've "lost yourself" or time felt like it slipped away from you in a profound way as you communed with God. We had just talked about such experiences in my spiritual direction class, commenting that these times when we "lose ourselves" and have hours pass in God's presence without realizing it, are actually a form of prayer.

   The authors comment that "these out of time experiences are helped when we let go enough to become so engrossed in what we are doing that we stop thinking too much." (81). Now certainly I am the last person to discredit thinking. I love getting lost in the web of thoughts and often my mind feels like it is in overdrive. God created us as beings with intelligence and we should use it. But. But sometimes we get so caught up in our mind, our thoughts, that God has a hard time breaking through. We get so caught up in our busy schedules that we forget God has given us time to enjoy. God's sense of timing is most appreciated when we lose our sense of timing. When we stop thinking so much and fully live in the present moment.

   Living fully in the moment and the spiritual discipline of play are often nodded at, but rarely engaged. We don't think we have enough of our time to be engaged in God's time. No wonder we are burnt out! We've lost God's priorities. God's sense of timing. Recognizing that we've lost something doesn't mean that I have any idea how we re-engage it, just simply that I notice that something is wrong, both in myself and the world around me. I want to be engaged in God's timing, and noticing that I'm out of sync is the first step to get there on this spiritual journey.