“Heart and Soul”
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven…” Ecclesiastes 3:1
Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London. There was an era when no one cared. No one checked watches, or clocks on the wall, or their technological nannies. Our lives, though busy with work and family and church, were not scheduled to the hilt. In urban centres, church bells, clock chimes or carillons might sound the hours. In more rural settings, the sun rose and set and its placement in the sky, and perhaps stomach rumblings, said it was time for noon day dinner. When it was dark, we went to bed.
To let go of being tied to the clock can be very challenging for some. We don’t want to ‘waste’ time. We don’t ‘have enough time’. We are running out of time… Sometimes those minute hands or digital numbers move slowly. We wonder if the clock battery is dead, the cell phone is malfunctioning, that class, or work day or waiting seems interminable. Sometimes time flies. Where have the years gone?
When we speak of God’s time we are often referring to when and how events unfold, in the world, the church and in our lives. We aren’t always happy with things taking place in ‘God’s time’, as opposed to according to our agenda, on the timetable we desire, with the outcomes to which we feel entitled. God is used to that complaint! Is there a day, within these Lenten 40, when you could let go of your bondage to the clock? When you could put yourself in God’s hands and let the Spirit guide your hours and speak to your heart?
Culinary Musings: I’m an advocate of slow cooking. By that I do not just mean using an electric slow cooking pot, although certainly they can be a great alternative when you just aren’t going to get home before 6 PM and everyone is hungry. For less than tender cuts of meat and tired old winter vegetables, a few hours roasting at low heat in a heavy duty ‘dutch oven’ or enameled iron pot, results in true comfort food. Add fresh thyme and/or rosemary (I know, fresh is expensive) and a bay leaf. Some stock or just water. The house will be scented with promise, stomachs will be satisfied! Just before serving, top with chopped fresh parsley (it lasts forever wrapped in a paper towel in the produce drawer) and a squeeze of lemon to brighten up the taste.