In The Fullness of Time

We live, we think, and we do, within our own timeline.  Our timeline begins with our birth and is marked by major events such as graduations, marriage, children’s birthdays, anniversaries, grandchildren, etc.,  and ends with our death.  Sometimes we stretch our minds and look at other timelines—other periods of history—our nation’s story, our family genealogy and so on,  but mostly we see and give all our attention and concern to our own time frame.  If God is, what is God’s timeline?  What does God see?  Surely, if God is, God sees beyond our little speck of time.  

Our timeline is but a fraction of a second in God’s time frame.  In that fraction of a second we are called to do our thing (God’s thing for our time).  It may be a little thing; it may be a big thing.  Whatever it is we are to do in our time cannot and will not resolve all that needs to be done.  In our time, no matter how hard we work at it, we can’t stop all the lions from eating some of the young calfs, nor can we tame all the wolves so that they will lie down with the sheep without doing them harm, nor can we, in our time, get all the cows and bears to be friendly toward each other.  We can’t bring God’s whole vision to fulfillment, because God and God’s dream are not limited to our “fraction of a second” timeline.

All we can do is our thing (God’s thing for our time) and know, by faith, that our little puzzle piece fits into the larger picture—the larger time frame—bringing God’s vision to fulfillment in God’s time, not ours.  We may have lions still feeding on lambs today, but the hour will come when they shall at last lie down together.  We may have vipers’ nest today and those vipers are doing great harm to the children of today and tomorrow, but the day comes when the vipers will no longer bite.

Martin Luther King, Jr., understood this timeline of God and his own little part in the long drama of history.  In his “I Have A Dream”  speech, he says, “I see it coming, and I may not get there with you, but it’s coming.  I’ve done my little part—God is going to do the rest.”

“Merry Christmas!”  God breaks through in a new way to tell us that our speck of time and what we do with it and in it is important to the whole.  God breaks through to be with us in our moment of time, to encourage us, to strengthen us, and to in-spirit us.  Mountains are brought low; valleys are lifted up.  We are called at Christmas to do our thing and  to contribute to the “fullness of time."