This weekend saw the biggest super moon for 2017 and the beginning of Advent. This serendipitous convergence is kairos time. Life is unfolding and attaining it fullness in time.
The other weekend, after Thanksgiving, was mostly chronos time. Thanksgiving, the taking time to be grateful and to thank people in our lives is kairos. But the madness that followed was definitely chronos. Black Friday is counting the minutes and the hours. The big deals begin at midnight of Thanksgiving Day. And the deals would expire at a definite time. Black Friday was followed by Cyber Monday. Again, there was a definite start and a deadline for the online madness. Then, as if to salve the consciences of people, Giving Tuesday followed. As if, there is an official start and an expiry date to being generous.
When I go to the office to work, that is chronos.
What time is spend with friends and family, that is kairos.
The time I spend making a living, selling to customers, managing the work of other people is chronos.
The time I waste with my friends or the time I spend unproductively with my family is kairos.
Worrying about month-end deadlines or year-end reports is chronos.
Taking stock at month-end or celebrating the year-end is kairos.
Chronos is not bad. We need that kind of time to be productive and effective.
Kairos can sometimes lapse into fruitless reverie. It must be tempered with what is important and meaningful for me and my life.