A Few Thoughts From Sheldon Swartz

"It is finished." - Jesus
John 19:30b

It is energy-draining to believe and feel like one needs to do more than one has time to do. "There aren't enough hours in the day" is simply not true. There is exactly the right amount of time each day, each week, each month, each year, each lifetime for what that time is for.

In three short years Jesus did everything that was necessary for Him to do. And when His pre-death work was done, He said, "It is finished." Now obviously not everyone was healed, freed from sin, released from prison, etc. It really looked like his work was seriously interrupted. How could He say it was finished? And if Jesus in three short years could complete such an important and eternally impacting work, can I not in 80 years get done something of what needs to be done? It must be more about quality than quantity.

At times I try to imagine what it will be like to live in eternity with no such thing as time. Some time back I read In Heaven as On Earth: A Vision of the Afterlife by M. Scott Peck in which he imagines what it would be like to live outside of time. He imagines that our spirits will be free to go anywhere in what we now experience as chronological time, or history, but it would always be experienced as the present. Perhaps we get close to that when we relive memories.

I believe that time is limited to our experience here on earth. The old song looks forward to a time when "time shall be no more." We will understand what an "eternal present" is because we will be released from time constraints or demands.

So, maybe it's not so much about having enough time to do everything that seems important. Perhaps it's much more about being more fully present in the moments in which we are living and doing what is important for that moment, not necessarily what seems urgent. "What's the hurry? Why are you acting like there is not enough time for you to get done what needs to be done?" are very good questions for us sometimes. It really is pretty hard to live at peace and hurry at the same time. "I should be somewhere else right now" is never true. "I should be where I am" is much more true. I like being with people who are living the latter.

So, whatever you decide to do, let yourself be fully present in it. Don't rush it. Don't live as though life is an emergency. If you do, you will be having a lot of them! Slow down enough to ask, "What is the one important thing for this moment?" listen deeply, and follow any direction you receive.

"Jesus, if you could just draw me a bit more into the restfulness that comes with only doing Your Will, I would be grateful. My will and others' will seem so important sometimes, and I get them confused with your good will. Right spirit can have so much more impact than hours of effort and work to make things better. When I do know your will, help me to put myself into it with my whole mind, soul, and strength and leave the results with you. Amen"