The fullness of time

So I wrote a blog a few weeks ago, inspired by a conversation with my mom about "unexpected moments." Well things are coming full circle. I talked with friend from Alabama last night and she was telling me about the history behind the verse "in the fullness of time, it came to pass. God sent forth His son" Ephesians 4:4. I was intrigued and fascinated by what she told me. We always say things like "His perfect timing" but I got it at a totally new level last night. He had to completely set the stage before He could send His son. There were over 50 events and things that had to be in place, a series of events, having to occurre before "it came to pass." Before the time was right, before the time was ready...before we were ready. I could go on.
After fellow-shipping with her about this I wanted to go home and look up more information about it. In doing so I stumbled across the article below in Christianity Today. Wow...I was blown away. It tied so many things together for me. I was just reading it because I wanted to know more about "the fullness of time" and someone else's take on that, but God revealed all these other connections. Mary and martha, pausing for unexpected moments, the fast-paced culture we live in, patience in waiting...so much more. He was and is clearly speaking through this to my heart! One of the doctors (in the plethora of appts. I've had this week) just kept telling me that I had to make a life change. That things were not going to change unless I make a change. I agree. Easier said than done, but I definitely agree. So God revealed a lot more to me than just a definition about time...enjoy what He shared below!!! : )


"As the tempo of cultural life speeds up, the heartbeat of daily life races, and our own body rhythms respond with adrenaline, cramped muscles, and heart attacks.To take time daily for prayer, for a quiet walk that's not to the next meeting, for daydreaming or for an unplanned conversation is a countercultural act. Following Christ is countercultural. Jesus calls us to resist the particular excesses and delusions of whatever culture we live in and to measure them by the plumb line of the Gospel stories where he pauses so often to pray, to eat with friends, or, neglecting the crowds, to give his whole attention to one needy person among the many who besieged him.One of my favorite biblical phrases is "in the fullness of time, it came to pass." That lovely phrase suggests four things: that time crests like a wave, that there is a right moment for things to happen, that it's not ours to plan that moment but to recognize it, and that we are not the primary agents of what happens in the world.I'd like life to be a series of pauses like a poem, rather than a fast-paced, page-turner airport novel.

I'd like to give myself permission to keep releasing what I'm not doing into God's hands so that I can bring my whole heart to what I am doing. I'd like to be less like Martha, busy about many things, and more like Mary, who hears the call of the moment and lets a visit from Jesus reorganize her afternoon. I'd like to do a little less and be a little more.This is the prayer I've brought with me from that retreat into "ordinary time": that I may receive God's offer of rest when I am weary; that I may receive each moment as a gift from God's hand; that I may discern what each new encounter requires and freely entrust everything else to God's care; that I may be ready always to say yes when Jesus' summons comes to "leave your nets and follow me." -Marilyn MacEntyre


More to come on the "fullness of time"...I am on a treasure hunt now : )