Their Proper Place

Writer Anne Lamott realized that she was worrying about things that really don’t matter when she was knocked back on heels by a friend’s words. Anne was fretting over whether a dress she was trying on made her look too big in the hips. Her friend, dying of cancer, said in a kind, gentle way, “Annie, you really don’t have that kind of time” (Found in Theology Today, January 2000, p.610).

What time is it in our lives? I’m not talking about time that can be defined by looking at our watches or at a clock. That’s usually what we mean when we ask, “What time is it?” Sometimes that’s what time is—a measurable, definitive hour, minute, second. The Greek word for this kind of time is “chronos.” That’s found in some places in New Testament. But the New Testament has another word that is also translated as time in English. This word is “kairos.”

Kairos refers to a decisive or crucial point in time. This is the word Jesus uses in the gospel of Mark, where we read: “Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time (the kairos) is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’ ”

Jesus was not saying, “It’s 7 a.m. so it’s time for breakfast;” he wasn’t saying it’s 12 noon so it’s time for lunch;” he wasn’t saying that it’s 9 p.m. Wednesday, so it’s time to turn on Modern Family. Instead, Jesus was saying, “This is a crucial moment. God is present among you now, so now is the time to respond to God’s love.”

Jesus’ words can make us come alive to the powerful truth that each moment of each day of each month of each year is “kairos” time. Why is this so? Is it because the end may come at any moment, so we better get our lives in order now, because if the end comes and we’re not ready, then both figuratively and literally, we’ll have hell to pay? Is this what Jesus is saying?

No, it’s “kairos” time because God is present in each moment of each day of each month of each year. Each moment is pregnant with possibility. This doesn’t mean that each moment will be filled with fireworks. It doesn’t mean the moments have to be in bold technicolor in order for it to be filled with God’s presence. Rather, each moment—bold technicolor moments and mundane moments—is filled with God’s presence. God is among us and within us all the time, no matter what we feel or how ordinary or extraordinary the day may be.

Today is filled with kairos time. That’s why Jesus’ words, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near...” come to us all the time. That’s why these words that I came across are true:
“Enjoy.
Pay attention.
No hurry to get on to something more important.
Whatever we are doing is important.
Time is a gift.”

This is the way to live. It involves openness to life. It involves living with our arms extended, ready to receive experiences and people, rather than living with our arms folded across our chests, closed to life and people. It is to see life as a dance, as a celebration, and the world as a laboratory for living to the fullest.

It is to live with things in our life in their proper place.