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Above is the video of the recent lecture we had in our church that was referred to in my blog post about giving space for grace. It was a very successful New Year’s event with a half hour of Chopin piano music before the lecture, coordinated with selected slides of quotes about time (some of which I include below). Then we videoed the lecture portion to share it more widely, so please feel free to pass this post or the Youtube link along!

The Bible

“Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” (John 4:35)

“And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ:” (Rev. 12:10)

I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (II Cor. 6:2)

“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8: 56-58)

But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (II Pet. 3:8)

“And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed… So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.” (Josh. 10:13)

Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy

“TIME: Mortal measurements; limits, in which are summed up all human acts, thoughts, beliefs, opinions, knowledge; matter; error; that which begins before, and continues after, what is termed death, until the mortal disappears and spiritual perfection appears.” (p. 595:17-21)

” ‘And the evening and the morning were the first day.’ (Genesis i. 5.) The objects of time and sense disappear in the illumination of spiritual understanding, and Mind measures time according to the good that is unfolded. This unfolding is God’s day, and ‘there shall be no night there.’ ” (p. 584:3-8)

“Never record ages. Chronological data are no part of the vast forever. Time-tables of birth and death are so many conspiracies against manhood and womanhood. Except for the error of measuring and limiting all that is good and beautiful, man would enjoy more than threescore years and ten and still maintain his vigor, freshness, and promise. Man, governed by immortal Mind, is always beautiful and grand. Each succeeding year unfolds wisdom, beauty, and holiness.

Life is eternal. We should find this out, and begin the demonstration thereof. Life and goodness are immortal. Let us then shape our views of existence into loveliness, freshness, and continuity, rather than into age and blight.”  (246:17-31)

Miscellaneous Writings by Mary Baker Eddy

“The new birth is not the work of a moment. It begins with moments, and goes on with years; moments of surrender to God, of childlike trust and joyful adoption of good; moments of self-abnegation, self-consecration, heaven-born hope, and spiritual love. Time may commence, but it cannot complete, the new birth: eternity does this; for progress is the law of infinity.” (p. 15:13-20)

Improve Your Time 

“Success in life depends upon persistent effort, upon the improvement of moments more than upon any other one thing. A great amount of time is consumed in talking nothing, doing nothing, and indecision as to what one should do. If one would be successful in the future, let him make the most of the present. 

Three ways of wasting time, one of which is contemptible, are gossiping mischief, making lingering calls, and mere motion when at work, thinking of nothing or planning for some amusement, — travel of limb more than mind. Rushing around smartly is no proof of accomplishing much. 

All successful individuals have become such by hard work; by improving moments before they pass into hours, and hours that other people may occupy in the pursuit 

of pleasure. They spend no time in sheer idleness, in talking when they have nothing to say, in building aircastles or floating off on the wings of sense: all of which drop human life into the ditch of nonsense, and worse than waste its years. 

‘Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.'”               

(p. 230:1-25)

“God gives you His spiritual ideas, and in turn, they give you daily supplies. Never ask for tomorrow: it is enough that divine Love is an ever-present help; and if you wait, never doubting, you will have all you need every moment.” (p. 307:1-5)

“We own no past, no future, we possess only now. If the reliable now is carelessly lost in speaking or in acting, it comes not back again. Whatever needs to be done which cannot be done now, God prepares the way for doing; while that which can be done now, but is not, increases our indebtedness to God. Faith in divine Love supplies the ever-present help and now, and gives the power to ‘act in the living present.’ ” (p. 12:20-28)

George Harrison                                                                                                             

“It’s being here now that’s important. There’s no past and there’s no future. Time is a very misleading thing. All there is ever, is the now.”

Mahatma Gandhi                                                                                                                   

“I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment following.”

Lao Tzu

“Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time,’ is like saying, ‘I don’t want to.’”

Albert Einstein                                                                              

“For us who are convinced physicists, the distinction between past, present, and future is only an illusion, however persistent.”                                                                                                                                                                       

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