My dad was an insurance salesman to the core. I got my
license when I was 18 and started carrying the briefcase, literally. One of the things I still possess from that bittersweet
experience is phrasing. Dad was great at calling on old people. Looking back on
it, I think that part of the reason for that was that he was as deaf as they were, and they
could basically yell at each other.
He also had a way of not insulting them.
His favorite question (always asked at the exact strategic moment when
information was needed to quote a rate) was How young of a man are you? Just a little adjustment, giving them the freedom to answer
without feeling badly about an ever-deteriorating condition. It also gave him a
wide open opportunity to follow up with You are? I never would have
guessed that! What a salesman.
Thinking about him gets me thinking about little adjustments. Have you ever noticed how tweaking the way something is said changes everything? I’m reading a
book on I Ching about the concept of the Chinese oracle. It’s not
really a religious book, more a book about perspective. See if this little
adjustment connects with you.
What time is it?
versus Which time is it? Just a
little adjustment and everything shifts. What time is about external time. It's about a unit of
time that is globally accepted as an interval to be measured. Bed time, doing
time, time out, making time, behind the times...you get the idea.
Which
time is about the internal. It is about quality of time, about a place that life has moved you to, a different perspective. We
speak of this time as a season in life, as in the springtime or wintertime of
life. This type of time is where you find joy, connection, freedom, compassion,
creativity and love.
So as we go through life, can we
see both types of time working in harmony? It takes both to tell a good story
or to relate a profound experience to another person. We have ten clocks in our
house--not counting the ultimate in accuracy, cell phones. Our bills come in
“what” time, so do birthdays, anniversaries and holidays. In my life, I have
the “what” time covered. It is the “which” time that I’ve been thinking about.
Since I'm an entrepreneur and an extrovert it is very
uncomfortable for me to put into words the time that I am currently living in. Terms
like a small time or still
time seem inadequate. Weaker still, a time of
dependence. A time
of clouded faith? Now I’m near the edge. Or
just plain time of faith. I’ve
definitely crossed the line.
I find it hard to talk about this even with
friends. Everyone around me seems like they are on to bigger and better times.
Vacations, cars, houses--all of that good material stuff revolves around what time. I sit in a which place, a place of being stripped, alone and weaker
than in times past. What time
is more fun but it's not more fulfilling. What time is easier to explain to your family, it
provides solid sound bite answers for the people at church and there is no
awkwardness when someone asks how you are. What time is definitely the time of our culture. I am,
however, coming to the conclusion that when we listen to the still small voice,
we have little control over the what
and which.
A faith walk has nothing to do with what time. It collides headlong into the which time that we are led to. Almost always, they seem to be in conflict. Trying to walk this out in a capitalistic, success-focused
society seems impossible. I see but one bridge, one path, a single road.
Honesty.
I have to be willing to share my which experience with the what people in my life. In doing this, I can’t allow
myself to covet or be condescending. I think that what time was illustrated in the story of the forty-day
desert experience, but for the One in the desert it was definitely a which time.
I believe we will all have which time eventually. For some, it's a long time from now, and for
others it will be here in the blink of an eye. My prayer is that I value and not just tolerate my
inside time. My outside time will be over quickly enough, and then this whole concept will be as aside as I walk into a space where no time
exists, where there is no internal or external, just the eternal.