One unseasonably warm Autumn day last week, the honey bees appeared in great numbers on plumes rising above the pompous grass by my mailbox. They found a treasure trove of pollen from the late summer blooms, and celebrated maybe their last hurrah before settling in for the winter.
I was fortunate enough to capture a photo of one bee in particular. The bee readies itself to dive into the plume and gather some more pollen. From the heavy pollen sacks on its hind legs, the bee has already had a good day.
The photo captures a moment, one laden with beauty and significance. The bee has a single-minded focus, aligning itself with a new plume. There is a present promise – more pollen to add to its swollen sacks. There is also a future promise – the little miracle that transforms these microscopic bits of pollen into droplets of golden sweet honey and ultimately providing food for a new generation in the hive. To complete the moment, the sun filters through the trees in the background. With a trick of refraction, the tiny openings between leaves splits the sun into a hundred little globes, each taking the of shape of the brilliant orb a million miles away.
We think of our life as a steady march through time, from one activity to another. When someone asks me about my weekend, I speak of events that span time. I don’t usually speak of moments that transcend time.
The ancient Greeks, however, had two words for time: chronos and kairos. Chronos is time as we generally know it, chrono-logical time. It is the time that usually orders our day, set by the position of the sun or the digital signal on our cellphones. Kairos is a moment filled with meaning. These moments transcend time and as the photo reveals, are laden with beauty or significance. Some Kairos moments completely alter the expected trajectory of our lives. September 11, 2001 was one of those moments for our nation. The year 2020 will be another, and most likely become synonymous with the pandemic and all the changes, pain and confusion it brought about.
Personally, being present at the birth of my first child was a ‘kairos’ moment. As I held the new-born infant, my mind was flooded with realization. The life of this child was literally and figuratively in my hands. I was given a new name, Dad, which conveyed the unimaginable, marvelous and breathtaking responsibility that comes with such a name.
Saint Paul uses both words for time when writes in his first letter to the Thessalonians: “Concerning times (chronos) and seasons (kairos), you have no need to have anything written to you.” (5:1) Although he says we have “no need to have anything written to you”, I am thinking that maybe do. Our lives have been swallowed up by chronological time and this has crowded out our ability to experience the moment. In our haste to finish one task and move to another, we’ve lost what Eckart Tolle refers to in his book of the same title, “The Power of Now”.
When you think about it, every moment has potential to be a ‘kairos’ moment. Each moment focuses all of the near infinite events of our past into a single point, and holds the promise of an infinite number of possibilities. In any given moment, we could experience the immeasurable value of awakening to our truer identity, renewing our sense of purpose, or making a fundamental change in our mind or heart.
When you think about immortal life, the steady march of time really has no meaning. What matters are the little conversions we make along the way, the little steps toward holiness and the cracked-open doors to receive little share of God’s grace. Eternity cannot be calibrated and quantified, but must be experienced. Everlasting life begins right now.
The message from the bee in the photo to us: strive to make every moment a ‘kairos’ moment. Rather than look ahead to what’s ‘next’ or behind to what ‘was’, open your hearts to what’s ‘now’. The bee was not thinking as we do: “After I get the pollen I’ll need to return to the nest. I might have time to make one more run. I hope it’s enough to get through the winter.” The bee instead was living in the moment – hovering six feet above the ground surrounded by the warming rays of the sun and filling itself with the promise of new life embedded in the feathery plumes.
What can you do to cultivate an attitude of ‘what’s now’ instead of ‘what’s next’?
“In a favorable time (kairos) I heard you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you. Behold, now is the most favorable time (kairos). (2 Corinthians 6:1)