Pondering life with Pious Bob: A watch called eternity

By Robert Halsey Pine
“…It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.” (ACTS 1:1-14 NRSV).
When I was a child I would always ask my mother when we could do this or when we were going to do that. She would say, “I’m not on a time schedule. We’ll do it when I get ready!” Would you believe that God’s not on a time schedule either? I always knew my mother was pretty special. She was just like God. God doesn’t let time or deadlines interfere with His plan.
After all, the one who created the Universe and put all the stars where they’re supposed to be and came up with this “people thing” couldn’t have been looking at his watch. Even “light years” probably don’t make any sense to God. If he can be everywhere at all times, then a little eight- million-mile walk really doesn’t impress God.
I’ll tell you what impresses me. I’m impressed that God gives me any time at all. It’s a good thing that God is on His own special time. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be any God time for most of us. Have you ever noticed how you can go to bed with all sorts of unresolved issues running through your mind, and no solutions in hand? You wake up the next morning and everything is crystal clear. During God’s time He worked it out for you.
In order to achieve peace in this life we need to have an “eternal life” mindset. We can’t think of time and activity in worldly terms. We must think as if we have already died. Only when we think this way can we begin to connect with the eternal. For our peace, here and now, is only possible when we can think of our life in its completeness.
There is no separation be-tween life and death. It is all one. It is all life, eternal life. We’re just in the first lap now, but eternal life has already started. How will we focus for the rest of our eternal life?
Father God, I pray that You will help me to understand that I am already in eternal life. Why am I putting off behaving like I’m eternally yours? If I understand Your love for me, why does my ego continue to compete with You? I remember John’s words about You Father: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” (John 3:16 NRSV) AMEN.
Robert Halsey Pine was born at Newark, Ohio in 1943. He is a graduate of Northeastern University and completed the program of Theological Education by Extension: Education for Ministry, School of Theology, the University of the South.