Parts of the United States will turn their clocks ahead this weekend as a means of enjoying longer sunlit days. It's a reminder that time--while it can be rearranged--cannot be gained or changed.
Time. Time slips through our fingers. Time is precious. And how easy it is for me to confuse the importance of time and the importance of people! I get in a hurry, grow impatient, push and shove my way through tasks forgetting that time is not precious for its own sake, but for people's sake. We don't outlast time. A person comes. Presents a need. There is a moment, a precious moment to choose authenticity, to be real, to reach out. Boom wallah. The person is gone, taking their need with them. The moment has passed. And I must remember that time is precious, not because it is limited, but because time with people, for people, is limited. Temporary. Fleeting.
You may remember the story of my friend who shared Christ with a child at Vacation Bible School. That child responded to God just days before his life ended. "There's not enough time," she'd said. And while God is the Keeper of time, the One who knows all; we make choices. We spend time. Waste time. Keep time. Use time. Watch time.
Today I need the reminder that time is a tool to be used and managed and spent, not for its own sake, but for others--and, ultimately, for God Himself. It is a gift worthy of stewardship. I will be held accountable for my use of time: harnessing it for God's use and glory or hoarding it for my own.
Time. It's a gift.
He who watches the wind will not sow and he who looks at the clouds will not reap. Just as you do not know the path of the wind and how bones are formed in the womb of the pregnant woman, so you do not know the activity of God who makes all things.
Sow your seed in the morning and do not be idle in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening sowing will succeed, or whether both of them alike will be good....
Rejoice, young man, during your childhood, and let your heart be pleasant during the days of young manhood. And follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes. Yet know that God will bring you to judgment for all these things. So, remove grief and anger from your heart and put away pain from your body, because childhood and the prime of life are fleeting.
Ecclesiastes 11:4-6, 9-10 NASB
Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were born
Or You gave birth to the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
You turn man back into dust
And say, “Return, O children of men.”
For a thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it passes by,
Or as a watch in the night.
You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep;
In the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew.
In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew;
Toward evening it fades and withers away.
For we have been consumed by Your anger
And by Your wrath we have been dismayed.
You have placed our iniquities before You,
Our secret sins in the light of Your presence.
For all our days have declined in Your fury;
We have finished our years like a sigh.
As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years,
Or if due to strength, eighty years,
Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow;
For soon it is gone and we fly away.
Who understands the power of Your anger
And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You?
So teach us to number our days,
That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.
Do return, O Lord; how long will it be?
And be sorry for Your servants.
O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness,
That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
Make us glad according to the days You have afflicted us,
And the years we have seen evil.
Let Your work appear to Your servants
And Your majesty to their children.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us;
And confirm for us the work of our hands;
Yes, confirm the work of our hands. (Psalm 90)
Time. Time slips through our fingers. Time is precious. And how easy it is for me to confuse the importance of time and the importance of people! I get in a hurry, grow impatient, push and shove my way through tasks forgetting that time is not precious for its own sake, but for people's sake. We don't outlast time. A person comes. Presents a need. There is a moment, a precious moment to choose authenticity, to be real, to reach out. Boom wallah. The person is gone, taking their need with them. The moment has passed. And I must remember that time is precious, not because it is limited, but because time with people, for people, is limited. Temporary. Fleeting.
You may remember the story of my friend who shared Christ with a child at Vacation Bible School. That child responded to God just days before his life ended. "There's not enough time," she'd said. And while God is the Keeper of time, the One who knows all; we make choices. We spend time. Waste time. Keep time. Use time. Watch time.
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| http://www.morningdressguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/vintage-hunter-pocket-watch.jpg |
Today I need the reminder that time is a tool to be used and managed and spent, not for its own sake, but for others--and, ultimately, for God Himself. It is a gift worthy of stewardship. I will be held accountable for my use of time: harnessing it for God's use and glory or hoarding it for my own.
Time. It's a gift.
He who watches the wind will not sow and he who looks at the clouds will not reap. Just as you do not know the path of the wind and how bones are formed in the womb of the pregnant woman, so you do not know the activity of God who makes all things.
Sow your seed in the morning and do not be idle in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening sowing will succeed, or whether both of them alike will be good....
Rejoice, young man, during your childhood, and let your heart be pleasant during the days of young manhood. And follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes. Yet know that God will bring you to judgment for all these things. So, remove grief and anger from your heart and put away pain from your body, because childhood and the prime of life are fleeting.
Ecclesiastes 11:4-6, 9-10 NASB
Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were born
Or You gave birth to the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
You turn man back into dust
And say, “Return, O children of men.”
For a thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it passes by,
Or as a watch in the night.
You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep;
In the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew.
In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew;
Toward evening it fades and withers away.
For we have been consumed by Your anger
And by Your wrath we have been dismayed.
You have placed our iniquities before You,
Our secret sins in the light of Your presence.
For all our days have declined in Your fury;
We have finished our years like a sigh.
As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years,
Or if due to strength, eighty years,
Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow;
For soon it is gone and we fly away.
Who understands the power of Your anger
And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You?
So teach us to number our days,
That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.
Do return, O Lord; how long will it be?
And be sorry for Your servants.
O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness,
That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
Make us glad according to the days You have afflicted us,
And the years we have seen evil.
Let Your work appear to Your servants
And Your majesty to their children.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us;
And confirm for us the work of our hands;
Yes, confirm the work of our hands. (Psalm 90)
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