Timeless

I have considered the task
which God has appointed
for men to be busied about.
He has made everything appropriate to its time,
and has put the timeless into their hearts,
without men's ever discovering,
from beginning to end,
the work which God has done.
Ecclesiastes 3:10-11

The first eight verses of today's first reading are extremely familiar (especially for those familiar with pop music from the 1960's): so familiar and so simple that they might almost seem trite.

But those first eight verses receive a very special perspective and profundity when heard together with the 10th and 11th verses of that chapter, given above.

It isn't just a matter of there being a time for one thing and a different time for something else: it is God who has made everything appropriate to its time and he has put the timeless in our hearts.

These two verses call to mind Augustine's classic meditation:

'Great art thou, O Lord, and greatly to be praised;
great is thy power, and infinite is thy wisdom.'
And man desires to praise thee,
for he is a part of thy creation...

Thou hast prompted him,
that he should delight to praise thee,
for thou hast made us for thyself
and restless is our heart
until it comes to rest in thee.
(St. Augustine, Confessions, Book 1, Chapter 1)

We may trudge through the world day after day, faced with one thing after another, but we are more than just the things we do and the things we experience. God has put the timeless in our hearts: we have immortal souls that are destined for eternity with the wondrous, beauteous infinity of God.