Think of the good times

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Francis Gonsalves [1]

“For everything there is a season, and a time: a time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck; a time to mourn and a time to dance... a time to keep silence and a time to speak... a time for war and a time for peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). Today, take time to think about the times of 2010 as the year will soon be relegated to the dusty pages of history.
Human beings have always been concerned about time. Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) defined time as: “The measure of movement according to before and after.” Similarly, there were attempts to measure time by units in the Indian tradition in one of the Vedangas, i.e., Jyothisa, in order to fix the most auspicious times for dharmic duties. Astronomers like Aryabhatta, Varahamihira, Brahmagupta and Bhaskara proposed divisions of time into mahayugas, yugas and kalpas with dreams of a golden age of peace and prosperity.
The Bible has some 800 references to time. Within the linear progression of the creation of the universe to its final fulfilment in God, life is cyclical. First, there’s the cycle of days: “There was evening and there was morning, one day” (Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31); second, in weekly cycle, human beings must work for six days and rest on the sacred seventh: the Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-11); third, since the Bible is written in the light of a predominantly agrarian context, there are many references to cyclical activities of sowing and reaping, weeding and winnowing. The annual religious festivals were linked to this vegetative cycle.
Beyond the “exterior” monitoring of days and years by clocks and calendars, our body clocks mark our inner growth or decay. Thus, one speaks of one’s childhood, youth or adulthood, or one’s times of pain or pleasure, elation or frustration. Here, divisions vary according to subjective disposition and personal outlook. Aged 80-plus, our late Prime Minister Morarji Desai joked that he was only 20 since he was born on February 29 of a leap year!
A conventional norm for a full cycle of life in the Bible is “seventy years, or perhaps eighty, if we are strong;” for, “our days pass away... we are soon gone; we fly away” (Psalm 90:9-10). The fragile and fleeting nature of time does not demand that one divorce the sacred from the secular espousing a “pie-in-the-sky” spirituality far removed from the clutter and din of daily living. On the contrary, the true bhakta harmonises all issues within the earthly flow of life. Faith in God does not transport a person beyond the routines of life, but it brings God into those routines with the promise of fulfilling them.
Today, as if viewing a film, let memories of 2010 pass over your mind. You’ll realise that there have been many auspicious (subha) and good times: births, marriages, promotions and victories. In the Biblical world, this is kairos (Greek, “right time”) when you feel top-of-the-world. Embrace this past with gratitude. But, what about the so-called “bad” times?
In a striking parable Jesus compared life to a field wherein wheat and weeds grew together (Matthew 13:24-30). When asked by a labourer, “Should we pluck out the weeds”? the owner of the field replied: “No, let them grow together until the harvest.” Life’s harvest brings both, wheat and weeds. Indeed, for every golden harvest, many seeds have died fruitless and many weeds have stymied growth. Yet, Mother Nature ceaselessly births bountiful harvests out of the felicitous marriage of divine bounty (earth-sunshine-rain) and human endeavour (toil-sweat-tears).
Along with the subha, the good of 2010, accept also the apparently not-so-good with faith and hope: sicknesses, deaths, failures, broken promises and unfulfilled dreams. Isn’t Life’s landscape incomplete and incomprehensible without these? Besides, God alone knows how our life’s harvests will ultimately bear fruit.
Tomorrow, January 1, 2011, will be another kairos, a subha muhurta when we’ll wish each other “Happy New Year”! At the dusk of 2010, let’s whisper the beautiful prayer of former UN Secretary-General, Dag Hammarskjold: “For all that has been, thanks. For all that will be, yes!”

— Francis Gonsalves is the principal of the Vidyajyoti College of Theology, Delhi. He is involved in interfaith dialogue and peoples’ initiatives for fostering justice, harmony and peace. He can be contacted at fragons@gmail.com [2]