‘Chronos’ and ‘Kairos’ living
by Bruce Hulme
Are you like me, pinching yourself that we’re nearly half way through 2010? I have papers to be written, work tasks overdue, and I constantly find myself operating out of the urgent-important quadrant much more than I would like. My alarm clock feels like it’s going off earlier and earlier each day, my inbox feels out of control, and my lists seem to get longer, not shorter! Of course, I’m not crying “poor me!”; this is chronos living which we all experience. You would know that chronos is the Greek word for time by the clock. Due dates, reminders on our phones and email programs, watches on our hands and frustrating red lights when we’ve cut it too fine to get to an appointment—these all reinforce the chronos dimension of living in a fast-paced society.
Increasingly I have come to believe that a deep life in Christ beckons the intentional cultivation of kairos living each day amidst a chronos culture. Kairos, the other Greek word for time, is God’s perfect timing … “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children” (Gal 4:4-5). Karios is the gift of God’s ’now’.
Jean-Pierre De Caussade called it “the sacrament of the present moment”. Amidst the freneticism of all that chronos living presses us to accomplish, the Spirit beckons us to embrace a kairos perspective, to pay attention and be present to who and what is before us. A child sharing an achievement with us; a friend in casual conversation hinting of deeper pain; a meal to be savoured rather than just devoured; a ’chance’ encounter with someone in need of a word of hope; a Scripture inviting deeper reflection … God places so many kairos moments before each day, if only we would be willing to stop and look, to listen, and to pay attention.
In the flurry of all we feel we have to achieve in this chronos culture, may we increasingly give priority to those rhythms in our lives that foster a kairos way of life, and so learn how to readily embrace the sacrament of the present moment.