Alternative Dimension: Time's Tea Party

Last year I heard a woman share a story about her joy at watching her daughter play. Her daughter was in the backyard, setting up an imaginary tea party and unbeknownst to the child, her mother casually kept an eye on her from an upstairs window. After a time, the mother called the daughter in to help set the dinner table, but the memory of her daughter's idyllic tea party stayed with her. She believed that was how God must feel when he sees his children--all of us--at play. Just like a good parent gives the child time for play and time for responsibilities, so God gives us time for play and work as well.

But how many of us adults really take time for play? And of that time, how much of it is spent with unabashed joy and gratitude? How much of it is instead pre-scheduled and structured, more of an appointed obligation with either a hidden purpose or agenda, a "to-do" or "should-do?" How much of it is spent self-consciously and guiltily, instead of with exuberant creativity and imagination, with appreciation for creation?

Most of us today see time as an enemy, not as a gift. We live in opposition to time instead of in harmony with it; we try to stay ahead of it instead of living alongside it. We over-book and hyper-schedule in an attempt to "get ahead" or "stay on top of," all of which results in barely keeping our heads above water.

Many drown in the sea of time instead of floating on its surface, buffeted and overwhelmed by waves and currents--and a drowning person does not have the perspective to see the shore or the horizon. We feel that we should constantly strive to beat out the competition--but won't there always be sales to take advantage of, friends to be made, and money to be earned? Do we truly believe that if we don't get what we want today, we never will? And if so, what does this say about things of eternal value vs the things of this world--status, money, material--that we should not be measuring our life's worth by anyway?

Even if we see finite time as a curse to mankind, I still believe that God wants to take any evil thing that befalls us and turn it to good. Therefore, even if we see finite time as our enemy, we still must see it turned into a gift from God. Yes, time on earth leads us to a bodily death, but if Christians believe death leads to eternal life, can we not look a bit more kindly on time?

What if we see time as a banquet set before us? Is time a bowl of candy to be devoured--rotting us from the inside out, making us crave more until we're sick and unsatisfied? Is a bowl of gruel, sullenly ate without joy, nothing inspiring us to continue partaking but solely getting to the end and being done with it? Or is it a spread as varied as creation itself, with nearly endless possibilities and choices?

I personally think sitting at God's banquet includes an optional tea party. The courses at God's table can fortify and inspire gratitude and wonder in us, or can (if we choose) lead us to excess and greed, or can even lead us into joyless denial and pointless sacrifice. But what about what just is? What purpose does sitting down to tea serve? None, nutritionally. It's purpose exists in really having no purpose--in letting time just be, in taking a break from the other cares, pursuits, and agendas of the world.