Our typing class in high school had some IBM Selectric Typewriters and some manual Smith Corona Typewriters that I think were around when Abraham Lincoln attended school. We alternated typing on the different machines to prepare us for what we would encounter once we graduated. We practiced typing with the phrase, "It is time for all good men to come to the aid of their country."
"It's time" conveys a special moment. The Greeks called it Karios or a time when a special event happened. In Christian theology, the birth of Christ is considered Karios time or the time when God pushed through the atmosphere and entered into human form. Karios can be described like ripping down a door so you can enter a home. Force may be used to accomplish the goal. Karios time concerns events that bring about change. The Stock Market Crash of 1929 could be called Karios Time.
Chronos time occurs as we speak. Each tick of the clock passes and fades as quickly as a blink of an eye. Chronos time is an hour ago, a week ago, a year ago, five hundred years ago. We live in Chronos time of twenty hour days, seven days a week, 12 months a year. Chronos time will encounter karios time when an event is so special brings change to the way things are done or how we live. Chronos time records these karios special events in history. As time passes, these events are analyzed and immortalized. Leaders who make a difference are remembered. Leaders who bring grief and destruction are also remembered.
2014 is already ticking away in chronos time. What does 2014 hold in Karios time? Will there be more mass shootings? Terror attacks? What leadership changes will we see? When we see more states adopt same sex marriage? Will the ACA succeed? We will have to wait and allow chronos time pass and kairos time to unfold.
Yet, we all know that Karios time will come for we all live with hope or expectation that the future will be better than the past and the present will give some insight in what is to come. We take the next step not seeing clearly ahead for the bushes and briars of the past choke out the present so we must step carefully. We must break free of the things that prevent us from going forward. This may mean a change in our belief or a change in the way we may do a function or perform an action. We must not be afraid of change but yet we must not embrace change wildly without looking at it carefully. This is called living by faith with hope.
We cannot have karios times until we open our hearts, our minds, and our doors to the thoughts, the ideas, and experiments of others. Closed minds live in the past and fight to preserve yesterday without looking at the possibilities of tomorrow. May we open our eyes this year and behold the future as well as the past.
Think about it.
Roy
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