Not Enough Time

Connor and his fellow first graders were to bring “show and tell” items to school shortly after Christmas. His teacher sent home specific instructions about how they were to present their special items. The rules included such admonishments as: choose an item that is meaningful to you, and practice explaining its significance to your family so you’ll be prepared to share with your classmates. Be prepared to answer questions, and keep your explanations to a five minute maximum.

So, with such a lofty assignment, Connor sat on his bedroom floor surrounded with toys, books, trophies, and pictures. He sighed heavily as he rifled through the potential show and tell fodder. He called me to his room to share his dilemma: “Mom, I can’t decide what to bring. My stuff isn’t as good as Anna Lee’s. She got to bring Elvis, her dog!”

Somehow, to his seven year old world view, old family pictures and once favored toys paled in comparison to a real, live, furry dog! I understood his quandary, so I offered what I thought was a sensational solution: “Connor, you can bring Clayton, your teenage brother!”

Without even a hint of contemplation, Connor flatly responded, “there’s not enough time to explain him.”

I burst out in laughter at the sage insight of his seven years! He’s more correct than he can even imagine! There are some mysteries of life and faith that cannot be explained... time just won’t allow it.

Part of being human means that, for a spell, we are stuck in time and space. We are housed in our earthly bodies, subject to limitations, and one of them is time. Time represents our restricted capacity - it shows that we are at the mercy of our planet and our own humanity.

God instituted time in creation. Morning and evening made each day. He created time for us, but, not us for time. We were made for eternity.

“I don’t have enough time!”

“I ran out of time.”

“My, how time flies.”

These well worn expressions demonstrate our astonishment at the passage of time. The boundaries set by each tick of the clock are counterintuitive to us. They run contrary to our spiritual nature.

Huge eternal mysteries are not solvable in our “peanut size” time and space. But, the fact that we grapple with the questions, long for understanding and explanation, reflect that we were not made for time and space--we were made for eternity. Our ambivalent relationship with time exposes a capacity and deep longing within us for that which is eternal. Time limits us, but, it also reminds us that we were not made for time. So, if you struggle with unanswered questions, let not the mystery make you weary. Instead, let it awaken in you the reassuring truth that you are timeless!

I recently felt the pang of a loss come much too quickly as tears trickled down my cheeks during a dear college student’s funeral. Did I cry over the loss of our precious James? Of course I did. But each tear I wept was also from an awareness of the general injustice of time. We were not made to die. We were created for eternity. The mourning that sweeps over us each time we feel the sting of death represents the incongruous constraints of time.

George Washington Carver, who began his life as a slave and ended it as a horticulturalist, chemist, and educator, once said: “I said to God ‘God, tell me the mystery of the universe’. But, God answered; ‘That knowledge is for Me alone.’ So, I said; ‘God, tell me the mystery of the peanut.’ Then God said: ‘Well, George, that’s more nearly your size!”

He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart... Ecc. 3:11 NASB

Blessings and Joy,
Jennifer Rothschild
Author of Lessons I Learned in the Dark,
and Founder of WomensMinistry.NET
http://www.jenniferrothschild.com
email me: JR@jenniferrothschild.com

Description: It was brunch prepared all by the women of the Women's Ministry.

Theme: we are ALL designed by God to discipleship.

What we did: We brought our ladies back in time by turning our sanctuary into someplace on the edge of a city. Perhaps, Bethany, perhaps the capital city of Susa in the middle of Persia, or perhaps on the edge of Jerusalem.

Our stage was set with a large tent, covered with fabrics of linen and silk. We covered a large piece of heavy cardboard with fabric that looked like stone, thus simulating a stone wall. We had large palm trees, earthen ware, baskets, and bright colored fabrics adorning the stage. It resembled someplace in the middle east.

Music: We kept it simple by simply having two women lead us in a couple of songs that were appropriate to the theme.

Call to Missions: A woman in our church shared about an upcoming mission trip to Africa specifically to assist women in birth, and to conduct HIV testing.

Drama: Seven women of the bible were presented in first person and dressed as they would be in the bible. While God used many women to disciple, we chose only these: Hannah, Esther, Deborah, Abigail, Dorcas, Mary (Martha's sister) and Mary (the mother of Jesus).

Table decorations: Decorations were very simple with vibrant colored table runners, center pieces of earthenware with native grasses, and a separate piece of earthenware tipped on it's side with beautiful blue pieces of glass spilling out to help simulate "broken and spilled out". A beautiful decorative dish was placed in the center of each table for a "love offering" all to go to the Africa mission trip.

Again, the primary theme was to minister that God has designed all women to be disciples of our Lord!

Submitted by: Gina Covert - Women's Ministry Chair Church: Woodlawn United Methodist Church, Panama City Beach, Florida
Email: ginacovert@hotmail.com

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