Philosophers say time is the measure of change. Humans experience time as the measure of their lives as they make their way from the cradle to the grave. In this case, time easily becomes something to dread or even hate as bodies weaken and the moments tick away.

The Scriptures, though, teach time is a gift, which God has given to his beloved children so they might be formed into the image of Christ. For while we are, as Paul says, “outwardly wasting away,” inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

If time is a gift, then the moments of human lives, and the often very ordinary things that fill them, are the basis of Christian formation. How might time come to be seen not as an enemy but as an ally in our common quest to teach the Christian faith?