Time

Today I woke early and went to the church where we hosted a district committee. We are pretty insistent on being as hospitable as possible, so we made sure there was coffee and ice water. Lunch was prepared for them and we stayed until they were finished. It makes for a long day, but although it took the same amount of time, it wasn't  as long as theirs. 

Today this committee met with ministry candidates, local pastors, and others who fall under the oversight of this committee. That kind of work is painstaking and tiring. It isn't physical labor, it isn't even necessarily unpleasant, but when taken seriously, you feel the weight of responsibility. It is tiring. 

Time is a funny thing. We say we "make" time, "take" time, time goes "quickly" or "slowly."  Sometimes I think "time" has a mind of its own. This weekend we are even "losing" an hour as we spring forward for the time change.  But in reality there is never any less or any more time, it is an illusion due to our perspective. 

As you set your clocks this Saturday night, think about what a precious gift time is. Enjoy the journey rather than rushing from big event to big event. Never "wish your life away" as my mother used to say. Savor each moment and make memories. 

I am glad you took some time to read these thoughts.  May your time be blessed tomorrow and throughout your life. 

How Far Have we Come?

Yesterday was the first day of 2009. My husband and I were talking about what we thought the year 2000 and beyond would look like when we were kids. I really felt sure we would have some amazing 'Jetson-like' technology. My husband did not feel that we would have that kind of advanced technology, but admitted to wondering what the 21st century would look like. Now here we are almost a whole decade into this millennia and we still wonder what it will look like.

For example, I felt certain in my youth that the more advanced we became in knowledge and technology, the more peaceful our world would be. Boy was I wrong! We have the U.S. involved in a war on two fronts, and the whole thing with Israel and Palestine, not to mention the unrest in Africa and South America. In fact, I think the only continent that does not have military conflict or is involved in military conflict is Antarctica. I would move there but I hate the cold, that I am a quite comfortable being in Oklahoma - good, bad or ugly. The really sad fact is that we have all the technology in the world to carry out research about our environment or climate, we can communicate and connect to one another in more ways that ever imagined in the 1970s, and we have information at our finger-tips like never before, but we still haven't figured out how to get along.

I was somewhat right about the technology. I remember watching the early versions of Star Trek (yes, I am a closet Trekkie, although I have been told that the appropriate term is Trekker), and was fascinated by their ability to read on things held in their hands, the amazing mount of information on the little hand-held computers, and the ability to communicate hands free. What do you know, we have all those avenues available, they just look a little different than when Spock and Kirk modeled them.

We have Kindles and Ebooks:

We have smartphones and PDAs:

We have these great little bluetooth headsets that enable us to talk as we walk around and go about our routine business: And we even have cell phones that flip open like Star Trek communicators.



But, do we have the really important stuff?

And if we do, do we appreciate it?

My suggestions? Glad you asked! Turn off an electronic device and have a conversation with your family. Take a drive with your spouse - just to see the scenery, not to rush to a destination. Play a board game with your children - you know, the old fashioned kind without a computer chip. Color in a coloring book, or paint a picture. Try to live without electronics, just long enough to remind yourself that you are a human.

Taking Time Off

I have always been amused by the different sayings about time. "Time flies when you're having fun," imagining some timepiece with wings trying to be illusive and evasive just because you are enjoying yourself. "Save time," like you can put some time in a jar to use later when you "run out of time" (picture the rollover minutes commercial for a wireless service - all these orange-colored, over-large, poker chips that you can sock away in a safe place.) "Time standing still" like that has never happened to anyone such as myself who is hyper. I love the "Over the Hedge" scene when Hammy the Hyper Squirrel finally is given a high-sugar, caffeine drink and the rest of the world comes to a complete standstill while he can walk through and do pretty much anything he wants. This must be a pretty common fantasy as there is now a beer commercial which seems to do the same thing and don't forget the special talent of the lovable hero, Hiro, on "Heros."

So...last week, I "took some time off." This is also amusing, as I didn't know if it referred to taking the now-tangible time off a shelf and therefore can now be used, or you leave time behind and function in a different plane of existence. Well, last week, and all vacations I guess I left time behind, or took it off the shelf or whatever. The interesting thing about "taking time off" is that it is purely illusion that time waits for you to return before it resumes. Ha! You generally come back to as much if not more work, because you weren't there to do it when you were gone. I used to have a boss that would save all the work for me when I came back from vacation. We had 16 other staff that could have handled it, but no, I was special and therefore worked my little rear-end off just so I could go on vacation.

Needless to say, if you do "take time off" you don't want to come back to the real world for fear of what waits for you there. Such is the place I find myself this morning, so I will quit "wasting time" blogging and get back to work.

Too Busy?!

I have had two very different conversations with people in my congregation. The first said that s/he was worried that I was taking on so many new things that I would soon 'burn out.' The second thought that I should take on something else. Tell me...is that a mixed signal or what?

The fact of the matter is there are a great many demands on those in ministry, and many more things that we 'ought' to be doing, but it seems to get the back burner. I find in my ministry that I tend to be 'doing' more and ministering less which bothers me.

I am well aware that I need to set boundaries for myself, and I do try, which is why the second person mentioned above got a resounding "NO" to the new request. However, I feel that there is so much to be done, and there doesn't seem to be anyone but me to do it. As a result, things that truly are pastoral responsibilities are falling by the wayside. And I look longingly at Adam Hamilton's post on sermon planning as a fairytale that doesn't come true until you have slayed the mighty dragon of "involving laity in the ministry of their own congregation." I have not apparently learned how to slay that dragon yet.

So, if the laity do not step up, what is the answer? Do I let things go? Continue them hoping the laity will pitch in and help? Or something entirely different.

Any comments would be welcomed.