time...

i once watched a documentary on the inner workings of Buckingham palace. i guess i was thinking about it here lately because we had the time change, but there is a man who works for the royal palace who's official job is taking care of the palace's some 350 clocks.

every week he is in charge of making sure that the clocks are all in working order, and that each clock is wound and is keeping the correct time. pretty tedious and time consuming work on a daily basis caring for so many antique machines, but twice a year his job becomes even more consuming. during daylight savings time it is his sole job to change by hand all of these clocks.

he starts in the early morning and begins the routine that has been passed down through the centuries of tradition at the palace. everything the royal family does and everything that takes place inside the castle is steeped in tradition. everything must be done just right, and so even the changing of the clocks has an order and a certain procession about it.

it takes him all day to work in all of the rooms and all of the buildings that are a part of the palace. he cares for these instruments and resets them one by one.

one of the last clocks on his list is an old timed bell that hangs in one of the old towers. he commented on the documentary that every time the task must done, he tries to hurry and be almost finished, down to this one last clock to reset, before the sun goes down. the old mechanism hangs inside the tower way up high on the wall and there is no good light in the tower. he must stand on a chair and reach up high to change the timer and if it is already nightfall, it can be a scary job, he remarked to the film maker, to be all alone, standing on a chair, in the dark, in an old tower. it kind of makes me chuckle to think that as i set my clocks forward the other night, somewhere in London a man was setting a clock praying for just a little more moon light in a tower.

and then i got to thinking. what passion this guy has for clocks! i looked it up and found out that he is what you call a horologist. it comes from the Greek word for hour and is defined as one who studies time. and while it is associated with those who have studied the actual passing of time, it also is commonly used to refer to watchmakers and time keepers and those who devote their lives to the management of these time keeping machines.

time.

this thought about this man in his tower in London got me thinking in several directions.

first i was thinking about how devoted this guy is to what he does. what passion for clocks! for time keeping. i was consumed for days by the thought that i am not that passionate about anything. to work so steadfastly and so commit ed to a task, even just two days a year, is a lot when you really think about it. you figure he spends just two minutes with each clock. that's 700 minutes. almost 12 full hours to get the job done. when was the last time i worked a twelve hour day with no breaks doing the same tedious job over and over. for most of us the answer is not very often.

and to me, it kind of seems like, is it that important, really? i mean so what if the some of the antique clocks are just for show and don't keep working time, or cant the job be stretched out over a week or at least a couple of days? but i guess that is where passion comes in to play. i don't have a passion for these old clocks, but this guy does, and for him, its worth it.

i have a hard time even doing anything for twelve minutes without getting distracted. as Christians we are supposed to be sold out passionate for Christ, and yet when was the last time i prayed even for a full twelve minutes without being distracted by myself? thoughts about grocery lists, about the work that i have to do tomorrow, about my own selfish desires so quickly creep in. when was the last time i devoted twelve minutes, much less, twelve hours, completely to God?

then i got to thinking what would the world look like, what would Mississippi or even my little county look like if we were passionate, truly passionate, even for two days out of every year, even for just twelve hours,about the sole purpose of living for God? how many good things could be accomplished, how many souls could be won, if even for one day we all stopped talking about how passionate we are and devoted our actions to actually doing something about it?

time.

the more i thought about time and this old man and his clocks the more i thought about the passage of time in my own life. about time in general. you might say i have been a bit of a horologist lately as i have studied in my own mind my time; my time here on earth thus far, the seasons that have passed, the people and things that have passed along with it.

its such a precious thing, and yet i waste it so often.

what am i doing most of the time?

so few things are eternal and i waste so much energy on the fleeting.

i guess this is the modern day plight of western civilization. we talk so much about waste. wasted energy, wasted space, where to put all of our waste! but i don't think often enough about the time i let slip by me with no work put into it that will have a lasting effect.

its easy to come up with excuses, its hard sometimes to just do whatever it is that we are being called by the lord to do.

lately i have had this phrase stuck in my mind: if it was easy, it wouldn't require a sacrifice.

i think as we draw near to the hour of the passing of our Lord and to the three days which must have seemed to pass the most slowly in history, it is fitting to remember the sacrifice that was made. not just of the blood that was shed on Calvary, but the sacrifice that Gods Son made to leave His throne in heaven where there is no time, where a day is like a thousand years, and to come to this lowly planet a babe in a manger to work among us a carpenter's son in the passing seasons of time.

He lived among us as a creature of time and yet He transcended time.(John 1:1,14 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.)

in the passing seasons He watched the leaves turn green again, delighted as the birds nests filled with spring eggs, smiled as the flowers bloomed and still He knew, year after year, with the passage of time, as He grew to be a man, what springtime would ultimately bring Him. would bring all of us.

time.

a friend was talking the other day about Ecclesiastes and reminded me about what it says about time. how there is a time for everything under the sun. i think tonight as i write, that there is a also a time for everything under the Son. because of His sacrifice to be like us, to show us how our lives should be lived, there is really no excuse. when we come to the end of our lives, all the wasted time, will be just that. only the things that we were passionate about will live on.

someone will be groomed to care for the old man's clocks when he is gone. its a tradition that has been passed down for generations and that will continue i am sure. its frivolous, yes, but it will live on as long as some one is passionate about it.

what will be carried on because of me?

what will i have done under the Son, that will truly matter?