From The Innkeepers

June 2024 Blog
On Time

Recently I ran across a quote by Avis Crowe.  Not ever having heard of her before, I looked her up and found out that she is a relatively unknown author who co-authored a single work called “The Ministry of Presence: Without Agenda in South Africa”.

The only reason it came across my radar was that this quote of hers appeared in the Grateful Living website’s daily quotation meant to provoke thought and deepen awareness. For whatever reason, at this particular time of life, this quote resonated with me.  It reads like a prayer:

“Help me to be less fearful of the measure of time, and more fully alive in the time that simply is.  Help me to live time, not just to simply use it, to breathe it in, and return it in acts of love and presence.” 

In the first part of this quotation about “being fearful of the measure of time” reminds me of how I worry that at my age the number of years, months, days, or hours that are left will be sufficient enough to do all the things that I still want to do.  The “runway is getting shorter” as they say, and it is this type of thinking which can cast a shadow of insufficiency and fear over the time we are given.  What an accomplishment it would be to truly “live time”.

I had an experience this past month where I was the recipient of people taking time and returning it in acts of love and presence.  Two of my former students from Our Lady of Mercy High School in Farmington Hills where I taught Religious Studies and Philosophy, drove hours out of their way to visit the Inn and have dinner with us.  It was an extraordinary experience to hear how each of their lives unfolded these past 40 plus years.  They are truly women who have and still are making a difference in this world. It did my heart good to see that the seeds of compassion and caring which we tried to nurture in them have come to fruition in so many life enhancing ways.

As I was reflecting on the quotation from Avis Crowe, it struck me that gratitude is at the core of being more fully alive in “the time that simply is”.  It is our gratefulness that allows us to acknowledge the blessings in our lives, and to understand that all of life is interconnected.  So, it is with gratitude that I repeat her prayer, with the hope that whatever days are left for me are at least partially spent in acts of love and presence.  My wish is the same for you.

Have a fruitful month,

Marcia, Pat, Sharon, and Ryan

Keepers of the Rustic Gate