Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

I don’t know if you feel it too, but I feel this year has gone real fast!

I feel it’s not really that long ago when Anya went all emotional as she started going to nursery school. AND now, she’ll be in Kindergarten (and so looking forward to starting school!) in two weeks time!

Anyway, now that we’re at the end of yet another year, I’d like to share with you something which I recently heard at a fellowship, as shared by Ev. Maria Mazo. Such a timely reminder to me personally.

It’s about us and how we view our time and our life.

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In Ancient Greek, two words are used to describe time: Chronos and Kairos.

I quite like the definition given in wikipedia.org for these two words, which says:

While the former (ie. chronos) refers to chronological or sequential time, the latter (ie. kairos) signifies a time in between, a moment of undetermined period of time in which something special happens.

While chronos is quantitative, kairos has a qualitative nature.

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Every one of us goes through the same cycle in life. One gets to be born into this world, grows up, grows old and dies.

Or, perhaps to some people, it’d be: One gets to enter this world, grows up, goes to school, graduates, works, gets married, has children, grows old and dies.

That pretty much sums up everyone’s life, if listed ‘chronologically’.

If one is to see life only in ‘chronos’, then he/she will most likely have a philosophy of ‘When ELSE can I do this and that? I should try and do what I wish WHILE I STILL CAN!’

The thing is, with this kind of life philosophy and understanding, people may end up trying out drugs, extra-marital affairs, or whatever things that they feel they should do (regardless of whether it is right or wrong, good for others or self, etc) because it is a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’.

In contrast, when one realises that there’s ‘Kairos’ in ‘Chronos’, he/she will see life as NOT just about going about doing our daily routine, because there’s something more important to life, and even more importantly, there’s an eternal value that’s tied to life. And upon such an understanding, that person can start living a life that’s of a ‘different quality’.

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We live in a temporary world, and one day we all will need to be accountable for the kind of life we’ve been living.

What kind of a life have we been living so far, or more specifically, this year?

Do we see our life as more than mere ‘chronos’? Do we hope to find more ‘kairos’ and important moments in life that are linked to eternity?

One thing is for sure, Christ has come to earth, suffered and died, and those who believe in Him can have the hope and strength they need to live a life that’s more fruitful.

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As I’m nearing the end of yet another year, I know I have lots to reflect upon for I do not wish to see my life passes by like a meaningless routine.

And for that to happen, I know I need to pray and ask for God to teach me so I can carefully see and continually appreciate things that are of eternal value in life.