This is my favourite painting of all time and Dali is my favourite artist.
I’m not completely sure why this is, but I have quite a lateral all-over-the-place thinking mind and love concepts such as misdirection, Improv and randomness and so maybe that explains some of the resonance. But mostly I like it because it has drippy clocks in it.
Whereas I have generally just enjoyed it for its differentness, today, for the first time, I had a “Eureka!” moment of one thing this picture could mean. The name of the painting is “The Persistence of Memory” which gives a clue, but when I look at the clocks, the idea of “The Persistence of Time” came to mind.
Time is not a solid clock that is stuck in one place and stands firm. Time is a drippy clock that is constantly moving and unable to be contained.
THE YEAR I LOST
1988 was the year that went missing for me. I became friends with the wrong guy at school (it is always nice to be able to blame these things at least partially on someone else) and that year could be summed up by “We played computer games”.
Not that computer games are necessarily bad. And not that there were not some redeeming features of that year because I’m sure there was some relationship stuff and some family stuff and God stuff that was good. But the overwhelming feature of that year was staring at a computer screen. I remember looking back at the end of that year, aged 14 and thinking, “Wow, I wasted that year.”
Because time is a drippy clock. I could not go back and have a do-over. I could not reclaim any of the hours and probably days or even weeks and months spent playing games. I could only resolve to do better the next year. Which I did. Standard eight (grade 10) as we called it back then (you know, when we had to walk 20 miles through the snow to get a bottle of milk each morning, or something) was one of the best years of my life, at least back then. I had seen the problem and I changed some things and was more intentional about the moments of the drippy clock, and it showed.
THE CURRENCY OF HEAVEN
We live in a world that tries to convince us that money (and also money in the form of things and experiences) is what we are aiming for. To the extent that some people work themselves to death to achieve and acquire and amass and only late in life realise that they are alone, or that they have neglected family and friends (for the ironic purpose of gaining things to enrich the lives of their family and friends, at least in their minds).
The clock keeps on dripping. You don’t get to go back and spend more time with family and friends. But you can make changes today that will enable you to do so tomorrow.
I speak often of people as the currency of heaven. Because if you study the Bible, that is what you are going to find. The two greatest commandments are to love God and to love people (your neighbour as yourself as well as the concept of enemy love). And nothing else matters. What you acquire and accumulate and amass will be burnt up. Only people count.
Which brings us back to the drippy clock.
CHOOSE THIS DAY HOW YOU WILL DRIP
We don’t get to do time over. But we can plan how we will spend it in advance.
The clock continues to drip.
See, this is the thing. In 1988 I didn’t choose to spend a year playing computer games. It just kinda happened as I just kinda went with the flow. I wasn’t intentional about how I spent my time and I never at any point chose to interrupt that.
Don’t let that happen to you in 2016.
Your clock is going to drip. But how are you going to spend that time? One thing that may help is identifying for you what are the potential time wasters in your life? And to start putting positive disciplines and good habits and regular routines in place to ensure that when you look back at 2016 there is a smile on your face. A year well lived. And a clock well dripped.
Who is with me?