A woman was walking down the road, past a farm, when she noticed up ahead a farmer holding his hog up in the air, up to an apple tree branch. Curious, she asked what he was doing. The farmer replied that he was feeding his hog apples. She then asked him, wouldn’t it take less time to pick the apples then feed it to the hog? To this, the farmer replied, “What’s time to a hog?”
Indeed! What is time to a hog, an animal that cannot tell time? What’s time to a dog, a butterfly, a robin, a tree, a stone.. you get the picture. They don’t do their lives to the time on a clock. They do their lives to the pitch of the sun, the temperature, the season. There is only one species that lives by a mechanical invention, and you know who that is.
Think for a moment about time in general. Telling time is created by people. And people are driven by it. We set alarms. We set timers. We make appointments. We work during certain hours, eat at certain times, play during certain days or times, go to bed at the same time, wake up at the same time. It doesn’t matter when the sun rises or sets, or what season. Day in and day out. Even the concept of day being a 24 hour period is made by people. Morning, noon, afternoon, evening, night, midnight – all words created by people to describe a specific time of day according to a clock. All of this means nothing to anything else in God’s creation besides humans.
Three other words come up here as well, past, present and future. To other animals, I doubt they have a concept of the past, except that maybe, for an abused dog. She might cower from an event that brings up a memory from the past. As a dog owner, it’s my opinion that our dog mostly lives in the present, and when she needs or wants to go outside, lets us know. She might be conditioned for certain activities to happen at specific times of the day, but that’s more vague, as she can’t tell time.
In our scripture reading today, we hear about the future: “Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole.”
Notice that God, like the birds and flowers, doesn’t tell time the way we do. The scripture says that the future is now, here, in the present. How can that be?
Perhaps, because time is not quite as real or literal as we think it is. Have you ever noticed that time goes by really fast, and can even collapse on itself, when you are doing something really exciting? For example, you may be watching a hockey game, it’s the third period, it’s tied up, and there’s 5 minutes to go. The last 5 minutes fly by as you root for your team, and then, just before the buzzer, your team scores! It’s so exciting, that you weren’t thinking, you weren’t hungry or thirsty, and you didn’t pay attention to the time on your watch – but you DID pay attention to the time on “the clock” that counts down the minutes and seconds.
And time can go really slowly. You are at work. You have to wait until 5:00 to leave, not a minute before. It’s Friday (days of the week are also made up), and after work you will finally get to go home and put your feet up after a grueling week (weeks and months are also made up). The clock ever so slowly goes tick-tick-tick. You can’t wait, but you must. At this point, you wish the work day would just get over with. This also happens when you are stuck in traffic. 5 minutes feels like an hour when you can’t move forward.
When we were children, the time between our birthday one year to the next took eternity. Yet as we age, time goes by so quickly! Those of you who have grown children know how that time flew by when we were raising them!
Why bring this all up? Because it is all made by us, not God. We drive ourselves crazy by living according to time. Yet, what would happen if we didn’t? We might get fired, if we didn’t show up on time. Or, get this, we might get a promotion if we worked until all of our work was done and done well, without being a stickler for each minute. If we left for our appointments with lots of time to spare, instead of timing it perfectly each time, we might have a lower blood pressure, be happier, enjoy life more.
And doesn’t the scripture talk about a future in heaven, starting now? The future is now, heaven is here, no waiting for some event tomorrow or next week or next year. Now. God doesn’t tell time, either, I guess. Since God is all powerful and beyond anything we mere humans can imagine, I think that God also doesn’t have linear time. So, for God, the future and the past are also now, here, in the present.
Remember Back to the Future? The movie where time travel is possible? Many movies and books have explored time travel. So let’s do a little time traveling now. Let’s bring the future to now, to the present. Let’s bring Heaven into our lives, here and now. No need to wait until our bodies are dead. No need to wait for a resurrection. We can get to heaven through connecting to God and the Holy Spirit through a guided meditation. If your mind wanders, when you realize it has, just refocus on my voice. No judgement, everyone’s mind wanders. Ready?
Make yourself comfortable. Close your eyes or cast them down gently. Take a deep breath in, hold it a second, then blow out any tensions from this morning. Take another deep breath in, pause a second, and blow out any tensions from last night or before. Shake out any left-over stresses. Put them behind you. Finally, take in a third deep breath, breathing in the light and love of God, breathing it deep into your heart, and then gently release, so all that light is in you or near you.
Breathe normally, now, as I take you on a little journey. Imagine yourself on a very comfortable couch or chair – your favorite one – and you sink into the cushions. All of your muscles relax, all of your body relaxes into it. Every exhale makes you a little heavier.
Every inhale brings love into your heart. Every exhale makes you a little more relaxed and makes more room for more love. Each inhale fills you up with more love. So although you are very relaxed, and your body feels heavy on the cushions, your spirit, your soul is lighter and lighter with God’s love. We will now take 10 breaths together, inhaling love, and exhaling our body into the cushions. 10 – inhale, exhale. 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…
At this point, your body is fully relaxed, your mind is focused on my voice. Now your soul is singing with the angels; your soul is reunited with the Love of God. It is here and now that you have once again found yourself in the presence of Heaven. It is in the present time that you have found Heaven, you do not have to wait for the future, or wait to die, you are here where you have always wanted to be.
While you are here, keeping your eyes shut or looking down ,imagine you are in your favorite place in the world. Look around and notice what objects you see. What colors do you see? What do you hear? What smells are there? Touch something in this place and feel the texture. This, my friends, is your Heaven!
Heaven does not have to be pearly gates. Heaven does not have to be angels flying around singing on clouds. Your favorite place is what brings you closer to God, and you can come here by using your breath and your imagination. You become whole when you engage your body, your mind and your soul. It is in the present moment that you can be with God, with God’s love.
Now, imagine in your mind that you are back sitting on the comfy couch or chair. Take in a deep breath and start to come back into this room. Wiggle your toes, your ankles and your legs. Wiggle your fingers, your wrists and your arms. Wiggle your torso, and when you are ready, open your eyes.
How do you feel? Like you want more? I bet! Heaven is a pretty cool place to visit.
So, as the scripture said, the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole.
So, when does it all happen? Now. Let go of regret about the past, since it is past and there is nothing you can do about it. Let go of worrying about the future, since worry does nothing constructive and is only destructive of your body. Should you desire, you can practice this meditation any time. ANY “time”. Because, after all, what’s time to a hog?
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