Recently in a liturgy we had a reading from Paul’s 2nd letter to the Corinthians, and a familiar phrase struck me: “Now is the acceptable time; behold now is the day of salvation.” (49:8)
Previously for another project I had been looking for quotes about time. I think that’s why the word now hit me. It means today, even this moment. Then one of the quotes I had found from my earlier research came to mind; it was from HG Wells: “…each moment of life is a miracle and a mystery.” Isn’t that an amazing thing to reflect on?
These thoughts made me go back and look at some other translations of St. Paul’s comment. Looking at 3 different translations, it was interesting that all 3 said “now is the day of salvation,” but varied on the opening phrase. One that struck me used the phrase “Now is the accepted time” instead of “acceptable time.” When I read it, I wondered “Who does the accepting? God? Me?”
Scripture in many places says God is always ready to accept us, no matter the circumstances. God is love and mercy, has a heart always open to our needs and requests. That means in this moment, even while you are reading this, and all other moments, God’s door is open and the welcome mat is out. So –
Who does the accepting? I guess the answer is you and I. Each one of us individually is the one who has a choice to make, to accept God’s always-there gift of outstretched arms. Lots of times we aren’t paying attention, so the moments pass by unused. Einstein said that the reason we have such a thing as time is to keep everything from happening all at once. From personal experience I’d say we humans often find ourselves living as though all things are happening at once. Is there anything we can do to lessen the frequency of feeling this way?
I think one way is to program spots in our day for doing nothing, for pausing. After all, each breath, each heartbeat signals a new moment, a new phase of our day, our life. What we do with that pause will vary with each person. For me, at times that pause allows something to surface that has been smothered under my to-do lists. It may be pleasant or not so pleasant, but it at least will have moved from my unconscious to my consciousness where I can make a decision about what to do with it.
Sometimes this pause drifts into prayer of some kind. This can lead to an unwinding of my tensions because it takes no effort. God is always ready and reaching out, so if I can stop and let go of my to-do list, God can find my own door opening, reach in and fill some of my empty spaces.
One quote I ran across in my other searching is from, of all places, Dr. Seuss: “How did it get late so soon?” I often run across the expression that time flies. I like Dr. Seuss’s expression better because it implies we were busy about other things and didn’t pay attention. This brings me back to St. Paul’s caution: “Now is the accepted time.” We almost always have a list of things to do, but maybe our list tomorrow will include an item to pause so God has a chance to come in and make something new in us.