The river of time

I'm slowly making my way through the book One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp.

It's a very interesting book, that, to be frank, doesn't always capture my attention (I'm a sucker for fiction...non-fiction can sometimes loose my interest).  However, last night, I read the most beautiful section that really hit home with me in my own life and I thought I'd share.  The excerpt below is from the book, starting on page 68 and jumping around until it ends on page 70.

Time is a relentless river.  It rages on, a respecter of no one.  And this, this is the only way to slow time:  When I fully enter time's swift current, enter into the current moment with the weight of all my attention, I slow the torrent with the weight of me all here.  I can slow the torrent by being all here.  I only live the full life when I live fully in the moment.  And when I'm always looking for the next glimpse of glory, I slow and enter.  And time slows.  Weigh down this moment in time with attention full, and the whole of time's river slows, slows, slows.... This is where God is.  In the present.  I AM -- His very name.  I want to take shoes off.  I AM, so full of the weight of the present, that time's river slows to a still...and God Himself is timeless....This is supreme gift, time, God Himself framed in moment.  I hardly breathe...and time is only of the essence, because time is the essence of God, I AM.  This I need to consecrate: time.

In a world that is so rushed and everyone says, "I don't have time," this is a good reminder to slow down! It's ok to say "no".  It's ok not to go to every concert.  It's ok to not attend every event at your church.  It's ok.  People are what's important, not tasks or events.  If we don't have time for a genuine relationship (not one via technology), then what do we have?  God is not in our stuff; He's in our beings.  If we want to touch the heart of the Father, we need to touch each other's hearts and share life together.

Oh Lord, thanks for the reminder.