As I sit to write to you, I’m aware that the days (and particularly the mornings) are getting colder, and we are past the night the clocks change. Autumn is half gone and I wonder where I was and what I was doing while that happened! I am continually astonished at how quickly time seems to be passing, and how that passage seems to accelerate week by week, year by year.
Hibernation instinct
Autumn always serves to make me reflective and in a way, I seem to find myself feeling melancholy. It could be Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), I suppose – other members of my family definitely have a discernible reaction to the drop in Serotonin levels in the body. Perhaps it’s the hibernation instinct kicking in – at the end of a natural cycle of seasons, being ready to slow down, rest and recuperate from the year’s labour and be in a place to start over again in the spring.
That, of course, isn’t the life we generally live. The industrial revolution changed our work, leisure and social patterns, making us components in a machine-time world, and now we are in the digital age, it seems that counting time in nanoseconds gives us little pause for breath in the fast-flowing tide of information. We don’t seem to have time enough to fully experience our days and we don’t have time enough to create and store our memories, We lose the significance of events and we are rushed from one thing to another in a way that makes it hard for us to remember.
Remembering
For remembering is not simply a mater of recall. Remembering is about putting our memories, feelings, experiences and reactions to life together in such a way that we become more whole, more together, more integrated.
The first creation story in the Bible introduces us to a rhythm of work and Sabbath. Work six days, breathe on one. Make the most of your opportunities but make space to rest, to reflect and to recover. Fulfil your responsibilities but take time to remember that you are not in charge of the universe. Take time to shape your life and work but leave time to let God be God.
Perhaps, if we can insert some of that time into our full lives, we will find perspective and wisdom that helps to do what needs to be done, and to discern what we can happily leave undone. If we can, we may find ourselves living with a deeper sense of peace and a greater sense of purpose, and therefore in a way that is more fulfilling, more satisfying.
Grace and peace,
Dave Bonny
