Need more "mortal measurements"?

Spiritual resource to share: timelessness


With holidays creeping up, finding time to accomplish everything we want can seem to be packed into too limited a time frame. Women in Technology International reports on lack of time:

"Time is finite: 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day and 7 days a week. You can't save it, but you can waste it. The amount of time we have does not matter, but rather the way we use it."

I like this idea about being deliberate on how we use time. But to take it a step further, it is even more important to understand one's God-given dominion over time. I experienced a situation that taught me how to do this, and this lesson stays with me today.

One time, when I was particularly time crunched -- going to school full time and working full time -- I did some serious prayer about time. Mary Baker Eddy defines time as "mortal measurements; limits, in which are summed up all human acts, thoughts, beliefs, opinions, knowledge."

It was interesting to look at Eddy's definition of time as a mortal measurement. With that in mind -- I had to ask myself -- do we need more "mortal measurements"???

When I felt God-directed and inspired, my reports, presentations, exams, and all that needed to be accomplished were done almost effortlessly. However, when I felt that I was being put upon - that is I put the focus on "poor me" - I felt crushed by the weight of all that needed to be done.

The situation was so extreme that I literally felt it when I prayed and when I didn't. There was an immediacy in my prayer - there was release and inspiration when I put it all in God's hands; and conversely, there was pressure and frustration when I felt that the whole situation was up to me to resolve. Like an accordian, I worked and prayed until I could master, to a greater degree, my control over time. And it was understanding the freedom that came with being led by God, that made me able to drop a personal sense of responsibility with its accompanying frustration and entanglements.

I learned an important lesson -- time is a mortal measurement. And when we feel pressed for time, it isn't that we need more of it, but more grace, selflessness and openness to God's abundant provision of ideas.



To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.

(Note: the photo was taken by my son, Gabe, when he was 11.)