- photo by Susan PageSummer is the perfect season to think about the topic of time. Summertime is when we often “slow down to smell the roses.” It makes me think of the lyrics from the old hymn Take Time to Be Holy, particularly the second verse:
Take time to be holy; the world rushes on;
Spend much time in secret with Jesus alone.
By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be
thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see.
Author: William D. Longstaff (ca. 1882)
Many of us can relate to the words “the world rushes on.”
In today’s rat race, do we slow down and take time to enjoy a nice meal around shared conversation? How often do we focus and really listen to one another or set aside our fixed agendas to answer a young child who is persistently asking a question or three?
Even when we physically ease off the pace, our minds often continue to race. When a journalist asked Thomas Merton what he considered to be the leading spiritual disease of our time, he said: “Our problem is not so much badness as it is busyness.”
In her book Adoration, Martha Kilpatrick says this about the treasure of time: “Time is the willing sacrifice that you offer up to the worship of what you love. Don’t tell me what you love. Tell me where you spend your time and I’ll tell you what you love.”
To be intimate with our Holy Father, we must spend time with Him in quietness of spirit, mind, and body. This takes practice and it takes time. The beauty of creation that surrounds us during the summer season can draw us into a place where we can quiet our hearts and be in awe of all that our Heavenly Father has created. Think, for example, of the most deliciously mouth-watering sweet peach or a slice of perfectly chilled watermelon as the juice drips down your chin. These fruits, along with that nice cold scoop of deep dark chocolate gelato, are a few of my favourite things that God created for us to enjoy! There are also the breathtaking sunsets, the sweet melodious songs of the birds as they give praise to their Maker or the giggles of young children as they run through the sprinkler. When we slow down and savour the delicious taste, sights, touch and sounds of the passing summer moments, we are filled with gratitude and joy.
I pray we take time this summer to “be still and know that He is God” (Psalm 46:10).
“My soul waits in silence for God only” (Psalm 62:1). “But the Lord is in His Holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him” (Habakkuk 2:20). “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).
Father, as You calmed the winds and the waves, please implant in us a calmness of heart and mind as we take the time to be still before You.
Susan Page is the daughter of the King, His beloved child, wonderfully forgiven and blessed! Susan longs to age gracefully, becoming more like Jesus as she seeks the hidden treasures revealed to her through Scripture, literature, the arts, humankind, and nature.