C'est La Vie

Losing Track of Time in Taize

After a month of blog writer's block combined with a sense of overall life exhaustion, I just returned from spring break ready to write, dance, and live again. I spent the last week at the Taize Community in France, praying, singing, and working with the brothers and pilgrims in the monastic community.

The Taize Community is a monastery focused on Christian ecumenism, the work of achieving unity among Christian and and world faiths. The brothers host pilgrims from around the world each week, inviting the travelers to join them in prayer, song, Bible reflections, and service work, I spent the week with six other members of LMU's campus ministry, along with more than 200 other pilgrims from Germany, France, Belgium, and America. I could not believe that this was a "small" week - usually, Taize boasts between 2,000 and 6,000 visitors each week. 

Every day, we attended three prayer services where we sang and observed silence together. Mornings consisted of a large group Bible study before breaking into smaller groups for discussion. In the afternoons, we worked together to help with the maintenance of the monastery, overturning guest rooms, replacing sheets, and cleaning toilets. Community meals filled with baguettes and multicultural conversations completed the experience. 

After a 7 hour flight delay, missing our layover, spending an unexpected night in London, arriving in rainy Geneva, and finally arriving at Taize, I adopted a sense of "let it be" that was only furthered by the lifestyle of the brothers. Among the many things I took away from my Taize experience, the greatest lesson I learned dealt with time. At the monastery, time is a flexible element. On the first day, I arrived promptly at 8:10 for the 8:15 am prayer service. I was so surprised to see that the brothers began to wander in at 8:15 and started the prayer service around 8:30. This valuable lesson taught me that life goes on, even if it is late. 

Nobody at the monastery cared about time - the community flowed according to the needs of the pilgrims and the brothers. The flexibility of the schedule allowed for the formation of international friendships. I will never forget the laughs and conversations I shared with everyone I encountered.

Living simply is the focus of monastic life, and I found simple living in the flexibility and freedom of time. Even though I cannot roll into class 15 minutes late at LMU, I want to implement a more flexible sense of time into the hustle of my Los Angeles life. It is ok to be late, and it is so freeing to not live minute to minute. I found I savor life so much more when I let go of time.

Taize allowed me to abandon my frantic sense of survival and focus on living rather than mere existence. Founded in my trust in God, c'est la vie does not require that I throw away my punctuality for carelessness; rather, it allows me to give everything to God, trusting and believing that everything will happen in its own time.