Now Now

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! I’m trying to get in the Christmas spirit by listening to Christmas music as I type up this post, but “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas” is just a little too real for me right now. The Christmas season in obviously a bit strange this year being far from home and in the middle of an African summer. I’m not used to seeing Christmas decorations next to the beach towels at the mall, but there is a time for everything, right? In all honesty, while I’m disappointed I won’t be home with snow and family this year, I can’t complain too much about a Christmas in Cape Town. I send hugs and Christmas carols to all you splendid folks back in America! My only request is that you eat extra cookies for me and have a snowball fight in my honour.

So just last week I was enjoying the most joyful walk to my shopping complex with a good friend. Usually my walks are accompanied with prolonged stares and countless shouts of “lekgowa!” (white person). On this day, the last day of the school year, people were full of smiles, energy, and warm greetings. I kid you not, one girl was literally jumping up and down to greet people passing by! I found myself comfortable and confident walking through my township and my heart was injected with a strong sense of belonging that I hadn’t felt lately. This once unknown community is what I now get to call home. It was one of those precious moment you hold unto knowing that tomorrow might not be so easy.

During this walk, we exchanged greetings with a few children. One young boy then hit us with quite a deep question for passing small talk when he asked “What is time?” Now, I know this was just a slight grammar mistake and he was trying to ask us what time it was, but still. It made me think. What is time? I still don’t have much of an answer other than it is a construct created for humans to organize events in our lives and world. Remember, God doesn’t experience time like we do as humans. He sees time through the lens of eternity. 2 Peter 3: 8-9 says

“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a

day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

With that, time is very influenced by culture. We understand slowness in several distinct ways. We have different ways of telling time, different concepts of punctuality, and different ways of filling our time. When I first moved here, many people joked with me about Africa time. I was actually excited to be in a place with a slower pace of living, acceptance of tardiness, and flexibility. I figured my own lax view on punctuality and spontaneous spirit would be a good match for this so-called Africa time, but little did I know that I have more of an American understanding of time than I thought. I realised more of my own values when I experienced minor frustrations stemming from culture clashes about time.

One recurring example of this is walks home from school with co-workers. Here is a regular run through of our after-school not-so-routine routine.

2:35 – “Mokgadi, we are leaving now! Pack up your things.”

2:40 - Says goodbye to co-workers and signs out for the day.

2:41 - Sits alone on the bench because none of my walking buddies are in sight.

2:48 - Pulls out phone to pass the waiting time.

2:51 - Phone dies.

2:55 – I finally spot a co-worker and say, “Hey! Is everyone almost ready to go?”

“Yes Mokgadi! We are just waiting for Ma’am So and so, she’s finishing up just now.”

3:04 – Contemplates leaving alone.

3:05 – “Hey, I think I might take off for home now, we’ve been waiting for quite a while.”

“Oh Mokgadi, noooooo. We are leaving now.”

3:06 – We don’t leave.

3:15- Starts singing the South African National Anthem because it’s somehow stuck in my head…again.

3:17- Ma’am So and so is spotted!

3:20- We move outside. ITS TIME TO GO! GET PUMPED!!!

3:22- Psych. We stand in the parking lot and talk in Sepedi for a few more minutes. “Mogkadi, Mogkadi. We are leaving now now.

3:26- We make it outside of the school gate. (Does a happy dance when no one is looking.)

3:27- …Buuuuut we have to stop and chat with the women selling snacks outside of school. :)

3:29: Walking buddies buy snacks.

3:31: Tries to check the time on phone. Nope. Still dead.

3:33: We stop at the intersection to finish a conversation I am completely lost in before saying goodbye to a couple of our walking buds.

3:37: Starts praying for patience because mine is gone.

3:38: The three of us start walking again. Slowwllyyyyyyyy like I’m the bride walking down the aisle at my own wedding slow.

3:45: I realise I’m like 5 steps ahead and try to slow down even more.

3:55: We hit another corner and stop to say goodbye to the teacher going a different way.

3:56: I ask for recaps of the conversation I only got 30% of during our walk and learn some new Sepedi words.

4:02: We stop again to finish up our chat and go our separate ways. I dart off American speed toward my house.

4:04: I’m greeted by a mob of my favourite neighbourhood kids outside my gate. And you guessed it… I stop to chat.

4:15: The grumble of my stomach reminds me that I haven’t had food since lunch at 9:45am and I head for my room, charge my phone, and realise it’s already 4:15.

So, you get the idea, right? I should mention this walk takes me less than 20 minutes from door to door when I walk by myself each morning.

So this sense of “LETS GO” pulsing through my veins after school each day is a huge symptom of my values when it comes to time. The honest truth is that most days I have absolutely nothing I have to get to after school. But it doesn’t seem to matter if I have something or not. If I’m leaving, I’m leaving right now and I’m going with the purpose to get somewhere else. But that’s not how my walking buddies were viewing this experience. I don’t want to speak for them or assume (because we all know what assuming does…) but in conversations with these co-workers and personal reflection, I did learn a lot about a different perspective on these walks home.

1. There is a HUGE difference between now and now now. If something is happening now, it’s not actually happening for a while. But if it’s now now, you better get your butt out there cuz something’s going down!

2. There is purpose in being present in the moment and not fixating on what’s to come.

3. Relationships are SO important. So of course, we wait. We chat. We stroll.

4. The sun is hot and the roads are made of red dirt and rocks. If you walk slowly, your shoes don’t get as dirty.

Now, I must say, my mentality felt fairly lame, impatient, and selfish after uncovering these perks to the slow stroll home. Yeah, I still feel impatient and some days I do dip out early to walk how I want to walk and get home an hour earlier. But overall, I’m really trying to catch myself when I fall into the let's go mindset and instead focus on the moment I’m experiencing right now now. Sometimes it’s something as simple as appreciating the red dirt beneath my feet or the beauty of the mountains in the distance. And when I do, I can hear God whisper to my heart “I’ll take care of tomorrow and even the now, all you need to do is invest fully in the now now that I’ve so purposefully placed you into.”

So I’m S L O W I N G down and it’s just in time for this holiday season. Life’s a lot more exciting and meaningful when you can find the joy in the journey. All we have is the now now, ladies and gentlemen. Let’s cherish it.

Merry (almost) Christmas and welcome again baby Jesus.

Bye now now,

Mokgadi