The Womb of Time

Man, Americans especially, is obsessed with Time. Have you ever stopped to think about it? It consumes our world! We’re always running about like chickens without heads, ranting and raving, “I don’t have time,” “I’m running out of time,” “Time is money,” “I’ll have to find time to…” “I need to spend time…” “Next time I’ll” “I’ve got a lot of time,” “There’s no time…” When you think about it, most of our expressions, conversations, thoughts, activities all revolve around this dimension called Time.

And what about our concept of it? We feel trapped by it, condemned by it, blessed by it, propelled by it, controlled by it. Time monitors our paycheck, orders our day, looms over us with deadlines, annoys us with “moral” obligations, and laughs at us with age. Time is everything to us.

But, is our perception of Time really a proper conception of it? Do we elevate its power and dignity far above its original intention to that of when it was first given to us at the dawn of Creation?

“And there was evening and there was morning, the first day…” (Gen. 1:4)

We feel as if Time is the end all be all – we only have a short amount of Time on this earth, therefore, we must spend it well, live it to the fullest, accomplish all we can within this vapor called life. However, Time was never meant to be our lord to rule over us, though it is certainly a guide. Time is merely a seamless transitional state that is a part of eternity, separating us from the eternal until our birthing day into that timeless realm.

Consider the miracle of pregnancy. In the center of the womb, a new life is formed, growing, multiplying, forming. Unbeknownst to this little one’s knowledge, he is on a “Time Clock” – a 33-38 week period of growth, in which he will continue to fill out this small space of darkness, in which he was conceived, until his time of exit arrives. And so, he grows, exists, thrives in his own little world, completely separated from the world outside. And still, throughout his gestation, he hears muffled sounds, sounds that penetrate that wall of flesh, sounds, which he cannot comprehend, but sounds, to which he listens as they enter into his world. In addition, he feels the vibrations emanating from the outer world that make their way into the one, in which he lives. Sometimes there’s a light that penetrates his blanket of darkness, a light he does not readily receive, and attempts to avoid (the light of cameras and sonograms). This is his world, simple, confined, dark, and brief.

Take a step outside the womb, and you have the world, of which he will soon be apart. You have the mother, living her life normally, eating, exercising, working, and preparing the nursery with all kinds of colors, lights, sounds, the same sounds her child hears, but in full volume, sharp, clear, piercingly whole. She purchases toys, baby food, books, DVDs, and clothes as she readies the home for when her new babe exits his world and enters this new one. Then, there’s the father, excited, and greatly anticipatory, who pats her stomach, speaks to the little one on the other side of the womb’s encompassment, sending his own sounds, to which the baby jumps and kicks. This father also lives his life full of responsibilities, adventures, relationships, business highs and lows, all the while waiting for the birth of his son.

On occasion, mother and father take a moment to see their son through the sonogram: watching his movements, laughing at his expressions as he scrunches his face at this light that invaded his comfortable darkness. They see everything about this new life; things he does not even see about himself. They long to hold him, touch him, but are happy to wait until he is ready, ready and “ripened” to depart THAT world and come into this one.

Do you think that baby has any concept of the life on the other side of the mother’s stomach? Can he possibly grasp the world of lights, colors, sights, and sounds that are so much more BEYOND his world in the womb? Yet, even so, is he not part of that outside world? He may be separated from it, yes, but only by the flesh of his mother’s skin and tissue; is he still not apart of it, living in it within the walls of the womb?

So it is with Time and Eternity. While we are “locked” in Time, we are growing, forming, developing, getting ready for the life on the other side of the womb. Moreover, this life of Time is dark, small, and quiet. At times, however, we hear the faint muffled sounds of something more, beyond our comprehension, but we know it is there. It is the muffled sound of our Father’s voice, speaking to our hearts with endless love and anticipation of reunion. Perhaps, we may see a light that penetrates our darkness on occasion, a light we’re not too sure we like, since it is so different from our shadowy world, to which we are accustomed. And yet, we’re drawn to it, something about it seems familiar. They are the visions and dreams sent from Above, the “rhemas” of Truth revealed to us by the Spirit

Our Father looks at us from beyond the Womb: He sees our formation, laughs at our expressions as we attempt to “handle” the different small inconveniences that approach us in our tiny encasement. Meanwhile, the Father prepares our own nursery, gathering the items, activities, books, and feasts together, all in preparation of OUR birthing day, the day we leave our short Gestation of Time, and burst into the New Life of Eternity, for which we were formed.

We are only separated from that Eternal realm by the barrier of the Womb, a Womb, in which we would hope to remain only until our growth is complete. Everything that we face during this Gestation of Time – it’s all in preparation of the new life, for which we were intended. But like a baby, who dies to the world of his mother’s womb, and in birthed naked into this new world of Time, so we too will have to leave everything in THIS Womb, and be birthed with only ourselves on the other side of Time’s veil.

“Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart…may the Name of the LORD be praised.” (Job 1:21)

But just like a baby has his complete body, fully developed and ready for the start of a new life, so we will take with us OUR spiritual development, fully readied to enter into that new life of Eternity, for which we were conceived.

Time is not our master, Time is our Womb, and when we have fully developed, we will birth into the Eternal realm, for which we were made.

“For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made…. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.” (Ps. 139:13-16)