Time Ahead

Sometimes we seem to be creatures of the future. Yesterday was both "F-5" for the Mrs. and "P-15" for both of us (5 days until freedom from work and 15 weeks until P is born). But I am reminded from time to time that the future is now. That is, when then things we look forward to actually happen, we'll be looking forward to the next thing...like P sleeping through the night! So somehow our "presents" are always about the future.

It is tempting to draw from this a lesson about living in the moment. But Paul tells us about three things that "remain" or endure: faith, hope, and love. Hope is all about the future and faith is substantially about the future. Only love is now.

In The Middle
by Barbara Crooker

of a life that's as complicated as everyone else's,
struggling for balance, juggling time.
The mantle clock that was my grandfather's
has stopped at 9:20; we haven't had time
to get it repaired. The brass pendulum is still,
the chimes don't ring. One day I look out the window,
green summer, the next, the leaves have already fallen,
and a grey sky lowers the horizon. Our children almost grown,
again how to love, between morning's quick coffee
and evening's slow return. Steam from a pot of soup rises,
mixing with the yeasty smell of baking bread. Our bodies
twine, and the big black dog pushes his great head between;
his tail, a metronome, 3/4 time. We'll never get there,
Time is always ahead of us, running down the beach, urging
us on faster, faster, but sometimes we take off our watches,
sometimes we lie in the hammock, caught between the mesh
of rope and the net of stars, suspended, tangled up
in love, running out of time.