Shannon Costello

Sunday morning I felt really anxious.  I had a muscle twitching in my forehead (it looked really weird) and was suddenly afraid I was having eye problems — irrational fears that present real problems when I  try to deal with them.  

This is where Augustine can come in handy.  I get very caught up in the moment:  I’m sure my current stress level has a lot to do with the start of the teaching year and the class I will be taking starting tomorrow.  The class will be over in December, the school year in July.  My perspective is too narrow.  

Augustine is thinking about time, among other things.  Time is finite, God is infinite.  He comprehends eternity, I don’t.  I think I’m always trying to define it as an extension of time, which I conceive linearly.  Augustine asserts that our existence is not an ever-repeating cycle, as the Platonists suggest.  Not only are we not repeating our lives over and over again, but we are created consciously and specifically- none of us were a surprise to God.  

Augustine helps me see myself as a part of something that is much larger than I and perfectly comprehensible to a God who is managing it all perfectly.