On November 8, 2025 I was in a panic as this blog was due November 10, 2025 by 5pm which gave me approximately 47 hours to complete it. Lest, you think I had been shirking my blog writing duties until the last minute, let me assure you that I had been thinking about what to write for over a month and even started writing 3 different drafts. But, my ideas didn’t go anywhere, and were, in fact, not very good. Making my deadline looked bleak as the clock continued its relentless forward march. Tick tock tick tock…
We’ve all been there. As much as we’ve tried, our paper, our report, our contribution to the church newsletter or our blog will be late. As an oldest child who takes her commitments seriously, I don’t like to be late. Of course, those who know me, know that I tend to rush in at the last moment or am 5 to 10 minutes late for a meeting or a lunch date. Remember, I said that I don’t like to be late not that I wasn’t late. Still, I prefer to be on time.
Time is such as interesting construct. We humans are the ones who came up with the hundreds of ways to chop up time into equal manageable parts. We have calendars to keep track of days, weeks and years. We have clocks to keep track of seconds, minutes and hours.
We also have invented a plethora of ways to keep track of time. We have large grandfather clocks that ring out each hour as well as small clocks you can attach to your wrist. We have alarm clocks, stop watches and timers. We put large calendars up on our kitchens walls and carry small day planners.
Time that is linear and measurable; time that can be seen on a wristwatch or written onto a calendar is what the ancient Greeks called Chronos. Chronos is the Greek God of Time and only goes in one direction from the moment of our birth to the moment of our death.
But the ancient Greeks had another word for time; Kairos. Kairos is the God of the fleeting moment. Kairos is nothing like chronos. Kairos cannot be measured. Many Christians consider Kairos to be God’s time for as 2 Peter 3:8 says, “Don’t imagine, dear friends, that God’s timetable is the same as ours; as the psalm says, for the Lord, one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like one day.”
The author Madeleine L’Engle writes, “Kairos is where God can be both at the beginning of creation and with us at this moment at the same time. Kairos is …flexible…incomprehensible. The saint in contemplation, lost to self in the mind of God is in Kairos. The artist at work is in Kairos. The child at play, totally thrown outside herself in the game… is in Kairos.”
I have a clear memory of being in Kairos as I was walking by myself in the park. It was right after Christmas when my family had all returned to their respective homes, and I was feeling the usual letdown after all the hustle and bustle of the season.
As a biblical storyteller, I had recited by heart The Gospel of John 1: 1-15 at the Christmas eve service. It took me 6 weeks to learn this scripture and was still firmly in my mind. So, it was no great surprise that as I walked, I spontaneously began to recite, “In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God.” I continued reciting all 15 verses I had learned, and after I finished, I began again. I must have recited that scripture 6-7 times in a loud clear voice as I walked alone in the woods. As I walked and spoke, I moved into a state of deep contemplation where time had no meaning. I didn’t “feel” any particular emotion like happiness or sadness, but I did feel totally relaxed and in the moment. I was at peace. I was in God’s time. I was in Kairos.
As we age, time takes on greater urgency. What else is on our bucket list? What else can I smash into the time I have remaining? We become on intimate terms with our blood pressure and blood sugar numbers. But, all of that is within the realm of chronos. Physicians Loulia and Don Howard, experts in the field of geriatric medicine and longevity write, “In the pursuit of longevity, we must ask: Are we trying to outrun Chronos or invite Kairos in?”
The Dr.’s Howard remind us that a long life is not necessarily a meaningful one. They encourage a Kairos-attuned life. What does a Kairos-attuned life look like? It is a life where you slow down and create spaces for stillness. It is a life where we are fully present with whomever we are with – a friend, a grandchild, a partner. It is a life where we practice deep attention to activities we enjoy.
I, however, had a deadline which was firmly within the realm of seconds, minutes and hours; Chronos time. Slowing down to create a space for stillness would not help me to turn my blog in on time so I sat down at my desk, put my nose to the grindstone and got to work. Tick tock, tick tock…