He walked along roads and paths to city and village. He sat in a boat on the lake and taught the crowds. In all of the stories of his life> He never rushed. We never hear about Time as a marker but more as a metaphor.
We box our selves into set established expectations and yet we say we model ourselves after Jesus the Christ. I understand the demands of modern reality and yet if we don’t work at stretching the box who will?The essence of life is to travel well rather than to arrive. Enos Mills the great naturalist and founder of Rocky Mountain National Park said that. How often am I completely focused on getting it done and not attentive to traveling graciously?
We just returned from our dairy adventure in Antigo Wisconsin. I am always amazed by my time on the Farm. It is full and active yet very much time out of time. Did you know there are still places where adults and high school kids take naps? Not just the kindergartners and littler.
I very much thought of this gospel in a place where the weather is not connected to inconvenience or weekends but to food and sustenance and the ability to accomplish goals and provide.
I watched a 14 and 16 year old run a million dollar dairy farm for 4 of the nine days their parents were away. Grandma and Grandpa and the other Grandma all live on the property or next door but the responsibility for running the milking and the farm was theirs alone. They were impressive. When my friends returned their children had a huge understanding of what having their parents around meant and how much of the pressure and stress were not theirs to deal with.
I believe we are called to that time out of time as believers in Christ. I believe that each Sunday is that for us and I believe it is our vocation to travel well and not just be consumed with arriving. I believe that as a community, missionally we accomplish nothing more than being an oasis from the rush of life and sign post that time is the treasure and relationship and everything else is second. We are a sign of love and kindness to each other and the world than in God’s eye will have accomplished much and God will be pleased. From the guy who was up to his knees just yesterday in the good ground take a moment this week to think about that good ground and what it means to us in our lives and challenge our selves to make our hearts good ground and understand that the good ground is just as important. May God find the good ground of our hearts and minds ready.
In the name of God
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