This thing called time.

Time is a funny concept.

In one sense it is very straightforward. Each day we are given 1440 minutes to spend as we like. That's 525,600 minutes a year. Whether we use them wisely or foolishly, they are gone in the end.


But what about other ways to think of time?


Parents of young children know that days can seem like years and years can seem like days.

For a child, an hour long car ride can seem that it will never end, while their favorite TV show is never long enough.

Time flies when we are having fun, but it drags when we are bored.

When you are in severe pain for five minutes, it feels like it's actually hours.

A person who gets a terminal diagnosis is placed on Hospice and told they have six months to live. They have very little time......except that they have a lot of time to put their affairs in order and say good-bye. Whereas as someone who dies suddenly has no time for those things, but up to the minute of death may have appeared to have a lot of time.

And, then, there is God's perspective on time. God, being eternal, of course lives outside of time. Somehow he can be in all "whens" all the time. One verse that explains God's view of time is Psalm 90:4:

A thousand years in your sight
are like a day that has just gone by,
or like a watch in the night.

C.S. Lewis also makes attempts to explain God's thinking on this topic. In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Aslan tells Lucy that they will see each other again soon and she asks what he calls "soon." His reply: "I call all times soon." It's hard to fathom what it means to call all times soon. Someday, though, we who live in Christ will be beyond the bonds and vagaries of time. We will inhabit eternity and call all times soon. We don't know when that is though. As individuals we don't know when God will call us Home. As a Church, we don't know when Christ will return and put an end to time. All we know is that He has called it "soon." (Rev. 22:20)

Better get ready. We don't know how much time we have.


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Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.

A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.

Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the op’ning day.

~ Isaac Watts

3.14159265358979323846264338327950288...

Math geeks and school kids are celebrating Pi day today.


Pi is that mysterious mathematical constant that you get when you divide the circumference of a circle by it's diameter. It probably goes on forever. At least it has been calculated to over a trillion digits and no end is in sight.


It's celebrated today because March 14 (3/14) contains the opening digits of the number. (3.14)


But why celebrate it?


Well, why not?

It's great to have an excuse for a party. Ask any middle- schooler who got out of regular classes to eat pie and play games with circles.

It motivates students to look at math and science in a new way and view them as fun.

Pi reinforces the idea that there is order in the universe.

And it's fun to celebrate things.

I was hoping to have a party for Pi Day with my homeschool group, but circumstances wouldn't allow me to organize it. Next year, I hope to have a potluck pie supper, play games with pi, make crafts with circles and enjoy some circle dancing.


Stuff like this gets us out of our routine and it's an enjoyable way to reinforce learning.


Happy Pi day!


And if you're not a math geek, have a good day anyway. :)

Why don't you go to bed?

I asked for suggestions on what I should blog about and got "Why we don't go to bed when we are tired and should." There's a question. I'm a night owl. I am up way later than I should be more often than I want to think about. So are plenty of other people I know. There's even a name for it "sleep deprivation." Everything from artificial lights to school schedules takes the blame for it being rampant. Some health organizations refer to it as an epidemic and it apparently has negative effects on just about everything from performance at work to emotional states. Drowsy driving is just as dangerous as drunk-driving.

So why don't we just get some more sleep? I know I should, but...

I'm busy. If I don't stay up, I won't get everything done. Which probably means I should cut back, but I probably won't because I can't imagine what I could cut out and still feel like I am pulling my weight at home, at church, at work, and in the minsistry I volunteer for. Could delegate more I suppose. Have to work on that.

I like to read. A good book is my bedtime's downfall. I get absorbed and forget about sleep. And if I am not reading anything particularly great at the moment, I dip into an old favorite and relive scenes for awhile.

And then there are movies, social-networking, computer games. I don't own a TV or have an internet connection at home but these things become vehicles for sleep deprivation when they are available. I need some good old fashioned self-discipline in this area. With the books, too.


I will also stay up late when I am somewhere with people I care about that I don't see enough of. I suppose that's OK, at least if I'm not driving. Keeping up friendships is important.


In some seasons of life, such as when we have a new baby or are caring for a sick parent, sleep deprivation is inevitable. It is how it is and there is nothing we can do about it. We sacrifice our sleep because we love another being.


Well, there are my reasons. Or excuses. What are yours?