July 21, 2023

Everyone I speak with lately expresses the same sentiment: summer is moving by much too quickly. More so than usual, this year, it seems. It may be that summers in Minnesota are just so precious that we fill our calendars to the brim during the summer months. It may be that after three years of varying COVID caution, many of us are back up to full-speed schedules now, and realizing how busy that is! It may be a combination of both. In the end, of course, we have the same number of hours in a day or in a week during the summer as we do in the winter: it is only our perception of time that changes. But isn't it interesting to notice how very much perception feels like reality?

In Greek, the word for time is kairos. It doesn't mean the kind of time that is measured by a watch (or a phone) or a calendar. Kairos is God-time. It is a "to every thing there is a season" kind of time. It is a "all good things in all good time" kind of time. Kairos reminds me of a favorite quote from Thich Nhat Hanh:

To live in the present moment is a miracle.

The miracle is not to walk on water. The

miracle is to walk on the green earth in the

present moment, to appreciate the peace

and beauty that are available now.

It is all too easy to get wrapped up in schedules and planning and what-if-ing. It is all too easy to let days and weeks slip away in a blink. My prayer this week for all of us, myself included, is to take in the present moment as a miracle. We don't need to walk on water. Or fill our calendars to overflowing. We only need to breathe deeply and appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now. My prayer for us is to live in kairos time as much as we are able.