TRACKS: Washington, D.C.

Losing time is not a pleasant thought for me. But, I am told that all of us lost time lately—not much, but some—because of the earthquake that rocked Chile a few days ago.

According to numerous earth scientists at NASA and in private research agencies as well, here is what happened. Any earthquake alters the shape of the earth to some extent. However, an 8.8 magnitude earthquake has a measurable influence, and the location of the earthquake in Chile strengthened the level of that impact even more. Under the Indian Ocean, two plates of the earth shifted. One of them (called “the Nazca” plate) slid downward underneath what is called the South American plate. The motion displaced a substantive mass which literally changed the shape of the earth. That change, in turn, altered the earth’s rotation. Changing the earth’s rotation caused a loss of time—1.26 millionth of a second of a day, to be exact.

News stories on the time loss intrigued me. Recently, I have been thinking a lot about the importance of time and the arrogance of assuming that we will have all the time we need to make decisions that need to be made and accomplish tasks on our “to do” list. I have assigned a new sense of urgency to time, and I don’t want to lose even the most fleeting moment if it can be filled with meaning aimed at helping someone else, nurturing love, doing something that needs to be done, or actually engaging in something that I want to do. We never have any assurance that there will be another such moment for us.

Prayer

O God, make us good stewards of the gift of time. Whether expending time in doing or using time for resting, we seek to live with appreciation for the time we have and a commitment to making the most of that time for the good of all. Amen.