2 Peter 3:8

"But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day."

Reflection by Lillian Daniel

There's a folksy story about a busy young man who came up behind a poor farmer who was taking his hog to market. The market was a few miles away, and as the young man walked briskly, he got closer to the slow-moving farmer and caught sight of the spectacle.

The farmer was picking up this enormous hog, carrying it about twenty feet, and then dropping it in exhaustion. Then the farmer would wipe the sweat from his brow, take a few minutes to catch his breath and pick the hog up again.

When the young man caught up with the farmer he had to comment. "That is the most inefficient way to get a hog to market I've ever seen. The market's half an hour away but this is going to take you all day. Why don't you just let the hog walk?"

To which the farmer replied, "Shucks, son. Time ain't nothing to a hog!" 

Which one had it together, the hurrying young man or the farmer? It all depends on how you define and value time.

Who are you in that story? Are you the rushing young man, full of concerns for efficiency? Or are you the old farmer, going about things your own way without much sense? Or how about this, what if you’re the hog? What if all of us are the hogs?

And God's the old farmer. God picks us up, carries us a little way on the journey and then puts us down for a rest. Then God picks us up and carries us a little further, and stops, giving us small increments on the journey, one piece at a time, in the hope that we might stop focusing on where we are going, and instead notice where we are.

After all, time ain't nothing to a hog.

Prayer

God, you are greater than time and space. Thank you for carrying me through this temporal world, and help me to adjust to your schedule, rather than expecting you to adjust to mine. Amen.
 

About the Author Lillian Daniel is the senior minister of the First Congregational Church, UCC, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She is the author, with Martin Copenhaver, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

The Daily Devotional is now on Facebook. Become a fan!

Sign up to receive Daily Devotionals

More items written by the Stillspeaking Writers' Group