The clock seems to rule our lives as we search frantically for some precious down time. According to Bonnie Thurston, Professor of New Testament at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, it doesn't have to be this way. "We are free to reshape our times, to be transformed by God's grace, and to live differently." The author shows how Christian monasticism teaches us to live in the present moment. She believes that the church's liturgical year enables us to experience all time as God's time.
An imaginative chapter "Time Participles" contains thought-provoking meditations upon spending time, making time, taking time, marking time, and wasting time. Thurston salutes the Sabbath as an opportunity to quiet the heart. It is an occasion to pray, to play, to sleep, to be silent, and to renew our souls. Thurston also reminds us of the importance of taking small Sabbaths of rest and prayer in the midst of our overscheduled and busy work weeks. She quotes Abraham Joshua Heschel: "The higher goal of spiritual living is not to amass a wealth of information, but to face sacred moments. Spiritual life begins to decay when we fail to sense the grandeur of what is eternal in time."