Tick Tock

Cam is fascinated by time. He constantly asks what time it is, and what time it will be after the time it is now, and if it’s early, mid or late morning, and what time the sun will set, and so on.

 

I’ve been thinking about time in other ways.

Solomon says,

For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
A time to search and a time to quit searching.
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace. – Ecclesiastes 3

There is so much of God's glory in time. I’m also glad he gave us this explanation of time because it helps to make sense of the season we’re in.

There is a time in life to gym or run for insouciant hours, and there is a time to count carrying grocery bags in from the car as sufficient exercise for the day.

A time for time-out and sorry-mommy tears, and a time to eat Smarties and camp under the sheets.

A time for the whole family to be sick and snotty, and a time to experience a rare, brief outbreak of health.

A time to let your child explore, and a time to stop him from putting his fingers into a plug socket.

A time to wait and allow passion and talent to emerge, and a time to start teaching because your three-year-old is asking you to show him how to play the piano.

There has been a time for Cammy to stay in the Monkey class, and a time (tomorrow) for him to move up to the Tortoise class. This is a big deal, if you're three. We agree and are convinced that it’s the right thing for him to go on with his friends. But still, it’s breaking my heart a bit, because it’s hard for Cam - new teacher, new classroom. He has been acting out his nervous expectations through tantrums and great big sobs over not-such-sob-worthy events. He hasn’t really wanted to talk much about it, and has in fact feigned bravado, but today we had an honest conversation that went like this:

Me: How are you feeling about moving to the Tortoise class? Are you worried or excited?

Cam: Worried.

Me: Why? It’s going to be such fun, etc, etc, yay for the Tortoise class, blah blah, etc.

Cam (with quivering lower lip): But the other children might shout at me, ‘Get out! Get out!’

He is still so little and so vulnerable. He came home the other day with scratches on his face from a little girl in his class. He is positively in love with her and follows her everywhere. She, however, showed him quite clearly that she is not interested in anything beyond sitting next to him at porridge time. It was my Teachable Moment of the day: How To Recognise That Someone Doesn’t Want To Play With You, And What To Do Next.

We’re so aware that this precious time-window of his preschool years is inching closed – this time when his heart is still reasonably supple and acquiescent and open to the truth. And the battle for his heart will only get tougher with time. He is already so astute, so quick to draw associations and conclusions, to bargain and negotiate. (When I commended him the other day for owning up to something, he asked sweetly, ‘What do I get for being honest?’).

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It amazes me how God is inside of time and outside of time at the same time, and how he is busy all over, accomplishing his purposes. Two different friends, on different continents, sent me the same link to the same blog post, within a day or two of each other (Four things I've learned about God through my baby who was born blind). We were obviously meant to read it, and I think others would be blessed by it, too. And this is just one example of many incidents, of late. It’s freaky, and fantastically exciting, when events, ideas and conversations coincide in a fluky, divinely serendipitous manner, and you just know: God is at work.

Time now for bed.