The Rhythm of Creation

by Kaye Pepin

There is a rhythm to the heartbeat of the planet. The sun rises, the sun sets. Winter bursts into spring, spring slides into summer. Time passes, the beat goes on.

Unconsciously, I have often seen time as my enemy. Our children are growing up and will soon leave us. There are more gray hairs on my head than there were a year ago. My parents won't be around forever. Where has it gone, and how did it pass so quickly?

This Lenten season, I've been engaged in a meditative book entitled, Lent and Easter: Wisdom from Thomas Merton. One section spoke directly to this time-weary heart.  Merton suggests that the Church is not fighting against time, for she does not consider time an enemy. Time has not robbed the Christian of anything he treasures. Christ has redeemed and sanctified it. Outside of Christ, time is one's enemy, because every moment may be the one when the soul is brought face to face with the consequences of surrendering to forces opposed to God. 

As it turns out, time is on my side. This frees me to bask in the seasons, to flow with the pulses of the earth. It enables me to wake each morning, to seek God's guidance for my day, and to follow in His ways, working joyfully at the tasks He's laid before me. The rest is up to Him. I try to seek not my own glory, but His.

Thus Lent, a part of the Church calendar for so many centuries, is vital for me. Its liturgical, seasonal nature keeps me centered in the daily-ness of life. It keeps me attentive to prayer and fasting. It keeps me focused on the way of the cross. It reminds me that Sunday, Resurrection Sunday, is coming.