Vom rechten Brauch der Zeit. HErr diese Zeit ist mein und dein
The Stewardship of Time
The author reflects on the fleeting nature of time and the necessity of dedicating it to God rather than the world.
That nun sang in the choir. That may be so. I join in: Lord, this time is mine and yours. World, you're shut out. Should I serve you? I don't have time for that. Time is mine and my God's. What's more fleeting than time?
Regret and the Cost of Misspent Hours
A moment of compunction regarding time wasted in the service of the world, acknowledging the inability to reclaim the past.
Its end is eternity. Have I served well? If I serve God, my eternity is in heaven; if I serve you, it's in hell.1 Who would still want to serve you?2 Do you know what I regret most?3 It's that I stole so many little hours from my God and spent them in your service. Oh, if only I could buy them back with hot tears! I have no gold or silver.
The Urgency of the Present
Using the warning from Hebrews, the author emphasizes that today is the only time we possess to serve God.
Are you still angry with me? Listen to one more thing. The nun didn't sing it right.4 Time isn't mine, but God's; not even a moment is in my hands.5 Am I supposed to serve you today? The day belongs to God. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Heb.✦ 3:7. Do you want to wait until tomorrow? Who knows where I'll be tomorrow! Today I step on the stone; tomorrow the stone may cover my bones.6 And even if you were ever so patient, I'm still so grudging that I won't grant you even a little hour. All my days belong to my God. Encourage one another every day, as long as it is called today, so that none of you is hardened✦ by the deceit of sin.✦7 13.
Final Renunciation of the World
A firm dismissal of worldly demands, deferring all authority over the author's time to God.
World, the time is not mine; I cannot serve you. Ask my God about it—whether he would grant me leave.8 If not, leave me alone.
Read the original Latin
Sang jene Nonne im Chor. Es mag so sein. Ich stimme mit an: HErr diese Zeit ist mein und dein. Welt du bist ausgeschlossen. Soll ich dir dienen? Ich hab keine Zeit dazu. Die Zeit ist mein und meines Gottes. Was ist flüchtiger als die Zeit?
Ihr End ist Ewigkeit. Hab ich wol gedient? Ich biene Gott, so ist meine Ewigkeit im Himmel; diene ich dir, so ist sie in der Hölle. Went sollte noch gelüsten dir zu dienen? Weißt du was mich am höch sten gereut? daß ich so manch Stündlein meinem Gott entwandt und in deinem Dienst zugebracht. Ach könnte ichs mit heißen Thränen wieder an mich kaufen! Gold und Silber hab ich nicht.
Bist du mir noch gram? Hör noch eins. Die Nonne hat nicht recht gesungen. Mein ist die Zeit nicht, sondern meines Gottes; kein Blick steht in meinen Händen. Heut soll ich dir dienen? Der Tag gehört Gott zu. Heute so ihr hören werdet seine Stimme, so verstocket eure Herzen nicht Hebr. 3, 7.
Willst du bis morgen warten? wer weiß wo ich morgen bin! Heut tret ich auf den Stein, morgen deckt vielleicht der Stein mein Bein. Und wenn du gleich noch so geduldig wärst, bin ich doch so misgünstig, daß ich dir kein Stündlein gönne. Alle Tage gehören meinem Gott zu. Ermahnet euch selbst alle Tage, so lange es heute heißt, daß niemand unter euch verstockt. werde durch Betrug der Sünde v. 13.
Welt die Zeit ist nicht mein, ich kann dir nicht dienen; frage meinen Gott darum, ob er mir Urlaub geben wolle. Wo nicht, so laß mich zufrieden.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Heb.3.7;Ps.95.7-Ps.95.8 — Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, 'Today, if you hear his voice,' Ps.95.7 — For he is God over us, and we are the people of his pasture and the flock of his hand. Today, if you would listen to his voice— Ps.95.8 — Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on the day of Massah in the wilderness.
- ↩Heb.3.13 — But encourage one another each day, as long as it is called "today," so that none of you is hardened by sin's deceitfulness.
- ↩Heb.3.13 — But encourage one another each day, as long as it is called "today," so that none of you is hardened by sin's deceitfulness.
Notes
- 1 ↩Source reads 'Ich biene Gott'; parallel 'diene ich dir' and sense require 'diene' (serve). Translated the corrected reading.
- 2 ↩Source 'Went' read as 'Wen' (whom/who) before impersonal gelüsten: 'Wen sollte noch gelüsten, dir zu dienen?'
- 3 ↩Source spacing 'am höch sten' treated as line-break split of 'am höchsten'.
- 4 ↩Early modern German anecdote: the nun sang the line about time incorrectly; the next sentence supplies the corrected sense.
- 5 ↩Blick can mean a glance or a brief moment; here it marks even the smallest stretch of time as outside human control.
- 6 ↩German proverbial rhyme Stein/Bein: Bein can mean leg or bone; the sense is mortality—today you walk the earth, tomorrow the grave-stone covers you.
- 7 ↩Fragment continuing s6 (verstockt werde...); 'v.' is the verse-marker for the citation completed in s8.
- 8 ↩Early modern German Urlaub means leave of absence or permission from duty, not modern vacation.
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