Kairos in the Kronos

Two weeks ago I was having a talk with young people in one of our assisted villages.

At the beginning, before I talked about the topic of my speaking, my memory suddenly recalled a Greek word, Kairos. Greek has division to describe time, Kronos and Kairos. Kronos lets us measure the time, such as one hour, one month, two years, five centuries and so on. Kronos defines time as it rotates linearly. Simply saying, time comes repeatedly. If today is Saturday, seven days from now will be Saturday again, and so will be the next fourteen days. We will count it chronologically.

But Kairos is different.

If we discern time as Kairos, today is going to be a day that will only occur ONCE in a lifetime. We’ll consider that this Saturday is NOT THE SAME as the last Saturday, and next week will never be the same Saturday as today.

In other words, this Saturday is so special that we will have no chance to repeat this day to start all over again. We will value this moment, today is too special to waste. We will make every effort to do the best and inherit a meaningful legacy.

I encouraged the youth to discern time as Kairos, thus they might be wiser to manage time and make the most of it.

And yes, like a double-edged sword, it reminded me (and somehow rebuked on how I treated my time lately).

Dynamics occured in my mind, works and circumstances recently changed me into a less effective person. I sighed and complained more than before. Rather than dealing with the condition, I ended up (too much) chilling out. I was overwhelmed by my to-do-lists, wondering when this all could be ended, feeling enough is enough.

Kairos reminds me.

Being deployed to this place is once in a lifetime.

Being present in this land is privilege.

Being a transformational development worker was something I have asked for years.

Being single is blessing in disguise as I could have more time to allocate for the people in this place, especially the youth.

This last 3 years should be treated as Kairos...

...since several months later or probably next year, I may not be entrusted anymore for being His worker here. None knows.

So why don’t I take this cross and bear it again for walking two miles (or perhaps more)?