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First post in a new series: Praying about the flow of time

Lynne Baab • Tuesday July 30 2024

First post in a new series: Praying about the flow of time

My beloved husband Dave calls me “time lady.” I usually know how much time various activities will require and how early we should leave to arrive at events on time. I worked for an astronomy professor for two years of college, so I also like the larger flow of time: the movement of the earth around the sun, the moon around the earth, equinoxes, solstices, and eclipses. We had the privilege of living in Dunedin, New Zealand for almost 11 years. For the first couple of years, I was disoriented by the position of the sun and moon in the sky and the upside-down (for me) seasons. Later, I came to love the way that the Southern Hemisphere allowed me to experience the earth, sun, and moon — and the flow of time — from a new perspective.

In this new series of blog posts, I want to explore the connections between prayer and time, how the seasons call us to prayer. I’ll post about the Christian calendar as well as some national holidays in the United States and New Zealand. I’ll write about the weather in both hemispheres.

I wanted to start this series in the Christian season often called “ordinary time,” that period between Pentecost and the beginning of Advent. I have so much to say about how God meets us during the ordinary days of our lives, calling us to draw near, to enjoy Jesus’s presence with us and rely on the guidance and empowerment of the Holy Spirit. I also wanted to start in the middle of summer here in Seattle, while it is winter for my friends in the Southern Hemisphere. Such a contrast in experience! Such a vivid picture of the fact that we humans face such varied situations in different settings.

For this first post in the series, I want to give you the first and third verses of a beautiful hymn written around 1907 by Frances Whitmarsh Wile of Rochester, New York. (You can listen to it here.) The first verse focuses on God's beauty that the flow of time brings us.

All beautiful the march of days,
As seasons come and go.
The hand that shaped the rose has wrought
The crystal of the snow,
Has sent the hoary frost of heav'n,
The flowing waters sealed,
And laid a silent loveliness
On hill and wood and field.

The second verse is about winter—not relevant to those of us in the northern hemisphere right now, but the third verse is a wonderful prayer. It praises God for God’s presence and voice in nature. I encourage you to read this twice, once to get the content and the second time as a prayer.

O God, from whose unfathomed Law
The year in beauty flows,
Yourself the vision passing by
In crystal and in rose,
Day unto day shall utter speech,
And night to night proclaim,
In ever changing words of light,
The wonder of your name.

That verse affirms that God gives us time. And whether you are experiencing roses or the crystal of snow right now (or rain or storms or drought or fog), I pray that you will see God’s presence in the beauty of nature and the flow of days. I pray that you will hear day unto day, and night to night, proclaim that God is good and that God calls you beloved.

For a closing prayer, I invite you to read and pray the second verse of the hymn one more time, affirming that God gives us seasons and the flow of time. Ask God to help you see God’s presence in the flow of the seasons, “the vision passing by in crystal and in rose.”

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Next week: "Listen to Jesus." Illustration by Dave Baab: from a Philadelphia rose garden.

My latest book is Friendship, Listening, and Empathy: A Prayer Guide. In it, I collect 28 blog posts about the topics in the title of the book, illustrated with 29 of Dave Baab’s beautiful watercolors. It is a perfect gift for someone who likes art or who is interested in how friendship and listening work.

Recently I recorded a 23-minute video on Sabbath keeping for families with kids in the home.

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