From Jerry Sittser and his book, “The Will of God as a Way of Life” and following a previous post ‘Why Make the Game So Hard’, and Why Make the Game So Hard II
(From a previous post. . . . two words for time in the Greek language:) Chronos requires speed so life is not wasted; kairos requires patience so that life can be enjoyed. Chronos drives us forward to get things done; kairos allows us to relish the opportunity to do them. We perform in chronos, but we truly live in kairos.
We have all experienced kairos, though we are often unaware of it because such moments engender unselfconsciousness. We pause to watch snow falling in the evening. We linger over the dinner table with close friends lost in conversation. We gaze lovingly at a sleeping child. We finish a special project at work, knowing that we have done it well.
Music, books, hobbies, friendships, quiet moments of reflection, challenging projects at work—these create kairos moments for us. The way to find such moments varies from person to person and from one season of life to another.
Not that productivity is wrong. Sometimes we have to hurry. Contemporary culture forces us to do so with its schedules, tasks, and deadlines. But we must strive at the same time to enjoy our work and to “take pleasure in our toil,” as Solomon wrote in the book of Ecclesiastes. In other words, we must enjoy doing what we do. ~Jerry Sittser, The Will of God as a Way of Life (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2004), 149-150
Thomas Kelly, Quaker mystic and philosopher, understood this sense of kairos well. He was aware about the way time seems to control us, as if it were the master and we its slaves. A false view of times leads inevitably to strain, fatigue, and boredom. It deprives us of living by faith, of taking risks, of enjoying daily life with God. As he wrote so sarcastically of life in his time: “No blind living, no marching boldly into the dark, no noble but ungrounded ventures of faith. We must be rational, sensible, intelligent, shrewd.” Kelly believed we must orient our lives around a biblical understanding of time. He emphatically discovered the eternal in the present moment, or what he called the “Holy Now.”
The old life of one dimension, lived merely in the ribbon of time, was always a trained life. Had we calculated the past correctly? What unforeseen happenings in the future can arise and overthrow all our efforts?… And then comes the sense of Presence, the Eternal Now breaks through the time-nows and all is secure. A sense of absolute security and assurance of being linked with an overcoming Power replaces the old anxieties about the kingdom.7
The Amish also have much to teach us. Sue Bender was a busy, productive professional writer who became increasingly unhappy with her life. One day she happened to see Amish quilts hanging in a store. The beauty and simplicity of the quilts told her she had something to learn from the Amish, so she decided to live with them for a while.
She never converted to their religion or joined their community. Yet she learned valuable lessons on how to live life in the moment. “What I had been looking for was the calm and focus I felt when I was with the Amish doing their dishes. It was a state of mind I was after. My addiction to activity had diverted me from looking inside, fearing the emptiness I would find. Yet, beneath all the frenzy was the very thing, that inner calm I was seeking.” Bender discovered the reason why the Amish knew how to live life to the fullest. It was the result of their view of life itself. “Their life is a celebration of the ordinary. . . . through them I am learning not to rush through life to get the goodies. Their way of life delivers the goods, and that is quite different. How they live reflects what they believe. Their life is their art.”8 ~Jerry Sittser, The Will of God as a Way of Life (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2004), 150-151
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