Elise: From 'nowhen' to inhabiting present time while mindful of future

When I learned about a book with quotes from Reinhold Niebuhr (the unbridled need for faith, hope, love and forgiveness, for example), Søren Kierkegaard and many other philosophers and theologians while, at the same time, with references to The Avett Brothers, Brandi Carlile, The Byrds and Fleet Foxes, I knew I had to read the 174-page non-fiction book.

James K. A. Stevens’ How To Inhabit Time did not disappoint. Smith is a well-known Christian writer whose appeal extends well beyond the boundaries of his own faith.

Smith encourages us to visit – in our own minds – a spiritual timekeeping, one that includes changes in all of our lives and one that focuses on the time spent with the spiritual.

Smith also reminds us that it is important to live deeply within time. We can do this by prayerful living and by seeing ourselves “at our now from a nowhen.”

I had no idea that “nowhen” is a well-known term that leads us to think outside of time. Smith tells us that it is important to develop memento tempori (defined as “at the important moment”), which can result in synchronizing our heart-clocks with the tempo all things spiritual.

Smith sees temporal life as a gift. It can provide a “new recognition of our world, and our relation to … God.” When we finally accept this gift, we can find joy in all time: past, present and future.

Another term I had never heard until reading Smith’s book is dyschronometria, which is defined as the inability to measure the passing of time.

How many of us lose track of time as we are visiting friends, playing an instrument, watching an interesting documentary and other activities in our day? While losing track is frustrating at times, imagine if you had an actual disorder that kept you from been attuned to time at all.

Many people know about synesthesia, which is defined as “the production of a sense impression relating to one sense or part of the body by stimulation of another sense or part of the body.”

For example, a person with synesthesia might hear the color blue or might taste anger. Their senses are jumbled. This is not a negative phenomenon. In fact, many people with synesthesia are more creative because of this scrambling of senses.

Returning to the issue of time, Smith wants us to ask ourselves WHEN are we, not who are we or why are we. As he states in the book, to ask this question of “when” is to see the way we are located in God’s particular presence in the now.

Smith writes that we are often blind to the special place God has put us, and that we need to solve our dyschronometria and live outside the parameters of the past and future.

I recently had the good fortune of attending a talk by Native American storyteller, Eldrina Douma. One of the questions Douma finds most important to ask is WHEN did my life really start, and what is my gift of the day?

Like Smith, Douma stresses the importance of the “when.” She also invites us to consider what we will leave for the person or people who come after us. We are, once again, measuring time and its usefulness in all we do.

Douma made a thought-provoking statement when she noted that Native American runners don’t just run to stay in shape or try to flee potential captors. Instead, these individuals run for prayer.

Think about an activity that may come naturally to you, and then turn it around and make it a prayer. What a wonderful gift that would be.

These thoughts and examples of living in the moment with an eye towards capturing all of the seasons in life can be applied to an incident that occurred on May 4, 2023.

Many in the Panhandle and elsewhere learned of the devastating desecration of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and so many sacred items on May 4. Some of us read about the incident in the Amarillo Globe News, which did a wonderful job of capturing both the brutal actions that early morning and also the responses by clergy, church members and others throughout the country.

We can apply Smith’s opinion of the importance of being grounded in our own time while being attentive to the vicissitudes of life and the ability to receive God’s grace in different ways to the May 4th incident. We can also note Ecclesiastes 1:9-11 NKJV:

That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which it may be said, “See, this is new”? It has already been in ancient times before us. There is no remembrance of former things, Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come by those who will come after.”

If we live “futurally” in the world with anticipation, then we are what we are called to be. In other words, we are inhabiting the present, but we are also mindful of what is to come. We have hope, which is interwoven with faith and is bound to love.

We do not have to panic or have trepidation once we realize with confidence that God loves us whenever we are.

We are broken beings, but it is reassuring to know that these shattered shards will be taken up and made whole in our redemption.

I personally find peace in the thought of my parents and youngest sister enjoying their salvation while holding me in their own histories before I am “gathered up” to add to the tapestry of the history we shared on earth for so many decades.

A sentence in James Smith’s book stood out above many for me. On page 146, he writes: “The Christian life is like living in escrow; the Creator has taken possession, but we’re waiting for closing.”

Live in time; live in hope; live in love. All of the rest will follow.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Elise commentary: How to inhabit time, receive God's grace