Time

"In Your hand are my times."

Psalm 31:15

aubade\oh-BAHD\ ,noun; A song or poem greeting the dawn

It snowed last night, a rare occurrence in Fort Mill, SC.,

so, I walked in the wood. Time is slower under trees.

Time- the system of those sequential relations that any event has to any other, as past, present, or future... Webster's.

Thanks to the mind of the Greeks we have sequential, linear time (the Children of Israel viewed time in a circular dimension). The Hebrew for the word in Psalm 31- times- is from the root aw-daw; times- circumstances. There are three situations which the word describes:

1. Regular events

2. The appropriate time for an nonrecurring incident

3. A set time.

The Greek equivalent is kairos, of which, there is no good English equivalent. Spiros Zodhiates says, "Kairos implies not the convenience of the season, but the necessity of the task at hand whether the time provides a good, convenient opportunity or not." My task at hand is teaching High School students who, much of their time, are not interested in being taught. Apathy rules. This morning I am chewing on the first question posed by God to man in Scripture,

"Where are you?"

It is a valid question still. To my students, I pose this question-

"What is your goal?"

Few answer. But then, some answers need more time than others. Art is about questions. The novelist Henry James posed three questions regarding art;

1. What is the artist trying to say?

2. Did he/she succeed?

3. Was it worth saying?

God has given me the amazing opportunity of teaching High School students about the thing called Art; explaining and demonstrating an elusive, fluid concept that can seem as frustrating as grasping Mercury. When all is said and done, it is Mr. James' 3rd question that will be the most important- "Was it worth saying?"

Time will tell.