November 2025

Today we consider the passing of time, by reflecting on two antique clocks, one that hangs in our living room and one we have seen only once.

Tick tock tick tock tick tock. In our living room I make a soft sound, soothing, like a chant. I am a French Picture Frame clock; very old. They say I was born in the 1890’s. Through the years, as I have aged, I notice that the sound I make is actually my heartbeat.

To be my best, I need to stay level. Balance is essential or my pendulum is unable to swing in rhythm and then it stops. Oh, it is so easy to become unbalanced. Even a routine dusting can affect my timing.

The sounds I make reveal if I am balanced or not. The room must be very quiet. Then in the silence, my sound is a reminder to listen, to listen to life sounds. I also need to be wound every 13 days. That’s like changing the batteries in more modern clocks.

In my long years, I have moved many times. In each transition, there has been an adjustment. I usually was moved to a clockmaker’s bench. Each simple fine-tuning gives me a new start.

Although I have made many metaphorical references to my personality, perhaps my most valuable quality is my character. Humans quickly notice my patina, the surface layer that reveals my revered age and sophistication.

Elder humans are sometimes noticed for their patina, which, to them, is wisdom. Some say elder wisdom is earned; others believe it is a gift. I'm old, but I am reliable.

How many tick tocks does it take for humans to realize the brevity of time? And what happens when the pendulum stops? Does being out of balance cause unwanted stress? How can silence dissipate anxieties?

What are some healthy activities that recharge energy? Will visits with a trusted friend or a guidance professional help with an attitude adjustment?

More wisdom from the French Picture Frame clock: Savor every moment, for in the world of clocks, every moment is a masterpiece. The clock's face is a canvas painted with the hues of memories. Each tick tock is the storytelling of life's secret moments. Above all, my tick tock is a reminder to savor every moment, for life is a series of beautifully synchronized moments.

--Jan

How many ways can you tell time?

I dare say it will not be as many ways as the great astronomical clock in Prague, Czech Republic, which dates from the early fifteenth century.

Like any good clock, the clock in Prague will tell you hours and minutes. It will also tell you the month and the day (including the saint for each day). It will tell you when the sun rises and sets on the day you are observing it. It will show you the current phase of the moon, and the current sign of the zodiac.

Now let’s talk more about hours and minutes. The Prague clock displays the hour in four different systems: Bohemian time (24 hours, starting with sunset), “German time” (our familiar set of two twelve-hour blocks starting at midnight), Arabian or Babylonian time (12 hours between sunrise and sunset), and sidereal time (measured by the stars, not the sun, and 4 minutes shorter than our 24-hour days measured by the sun). See the video below for more detail.

In addition to all that, there are the figures of the twelve apostles who march around above the clock face each time the hour strikes, and the cautionary figures beside the clock – representing vanity, avarice, lust, and death – which are also set into motion at the top of every hour.

That clock in Prague is a mechanical, engineering and astronomical marvel. It is more than 600 years old, and, yes, it’s been repaired and renovated numerous times. But something like 75% of all its parts are original!

That clock is amazingly intricate and accurate. Even with all our modern technology, I still cannot tell time as well as that clock. Which may be a good thing. All that precision may do little more than mask life’s mysteries. I think of the following prayer by Frederick Buechner:

"Lord, catch me off guard today. Surprise me with some moment of beauty or pain so that at least for the moment, I may be startled into seeing that you are here in all your splendor, always and everywhere, barely hidden, beneath, beyond, within this life I breathe."

Or, as Psalm 90 puts it, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

--Bill

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