In Sync

Something strange happened to me last night.

I walked into the kitchen and looked at the microwave clock. It said 11:04pm. But then I noticed the oven clock. It said 11:00pm.

Curious, I looked at my watch. It said the time was 10:59pm.

Intrigued, I pulled out my cellphone. It said it was 11:02.

4 different time pieces. 4 different times. What in the world was going on? Well, I’ve been doing some research today and I think I figured it out. I was in a Time Vortex. Time was folding in on itself!

Either that, or time is just a little sloppy around my house.

You know, in the movies, when spies are about to pull off some covert mission? They stand in a circle and hold out their wrists and synchronize their watches down to the exact second? I always kind of liked that notion, that time could be so dependable and exact.

But I have alarm clocks, computer clocks, car clocks, wall clocks…all kinds of time-telling devices in my life, and I doubt any of them are perfectly synced with each other. So, why doesn’t that bother me?

I place a lot importance on time. Keeping track of important dates, showing up on time to appointments, watching the passing seasons, planning ahead. You’d think that I’d want to keep track of my life down to the last second.

But I don’t. Not really.

I went to the Bible, curious to see what the scriptures say about time. There are lots and lots of passages referring to the words “time”, “day”, and “hour”, but do you know many passages mention “minutes” or “seconds”?

None! None that I could find anyway. And I suppose that makes sense. People back then weren’t wearing wristwatches, nor did they have microwave clocks (or microwaves). The idea of living with such precision–down to the minute or second–would have been quite foreign to them. And still, they managed to keep important dates, make plans, etc. It makes me wonder, can you place too much emphasis on staying in sync?

There are clocks with radio signals so they stay perfectly in time with the “official time”. And cellphones keep their time through their cell towers. There are programs and websites you can access offering 100% accuracy.

But truthfully? I’ve decided my own little Time Vortex is kind of nice. It reminds me that I don’t have to be “on the clock” all the time or live my life down to the last second. There’s give and take in life. Room to breathe. A couple minutes here and there keep me from feeling like a prisoner to Time.

Time may continue to march forward, but I choose to march…

to the beep of my own microwave.

Have a great week,

Mitch