My friend Joyce sent me this meme: “The greatest gift you can give someone is your TIME because when you give your time, you are giving a portion of your life that you will never get back.” I wonder how many of us take our Time for granted.
Sometimes I think I am just busy with…well, busyness, flitting from one trivial thing to the next while there remain so many significant causes that I create excuses to ignore. People who need contacting. Worthy organizations that need volunteers. Neighbors I need to meet. Prayers I need to pray.
You know, worthwhile, God-pleasing things.
I mean, I manage to set aside time to watch the Chiefs or answer a girlfriend-text or play Pickleball or put on makeup or have a pedicure. Priorities. I just hope that when I die, I’m engaged in something a little more spiritual than those actions (although sometimes I am praying for the Chiefs—does that count?).
God gifted us with Time. None of the things I do are bad, but according to the U.S. Dept. of Labor, adult Americans average more than five hours of free time a day. Almost a third of their awake-time! And where do they spend those five hours? Entertainment: television; surfing their computers; video games, etc. (Don’t shoot me. I’m just the messenger.)
Interesting, isn’t it? If we were invited to hang out with drug dealers, murderers, pedophiles, adulterers or alcoholics, we probably would find an excuse not to join the party. Yet we spend much of our time with them on television, on our iPods or listening to song lyrics about them. We’d be better off meeting them in person where at least we might tell them about Jesus, but if you’re like most Christians, the mere thought terrifies you.
You’ve probably heard the old saying, “Garbage in. Garbage out.” Where we spend our time will dictate…well, where we spend our time. (Yes, I made that up.) Where and how we spend our time on earth will determine where and how we spend our time in eternity.
One of the biggest issues with Time is procrastination: “Don’t do anything today that you can do tomorrow.” I typically don’t procrastinate because I don’t like the “me” that surfaces when I am pressed with last-minute deadlines. C-R-A-N-K-Y!!! The trouble is, some people live with this Pinterest philosophy: “From a procrastination standpoint, today has been wildly successful.” I know people who live in delay mode, but when time is finally up, they are panicked. And everyone around them pays the price.
In his book Rise, Tripp Lee writes: “To put it simply, procrastination is pride, because it assumes you know the future. But we don’t know when our health will decline or our lives will end. We don’t even know for sure when life will get busier.”
Hmmm…
When I think of standing in Heaven and God is “dividing the sheep from the goats,” I sure hope Christians don’t have to watch those who never made Jesus their Lord and Savior being banished. To see loved ones and neighbors, knowing that we never used our Time to share the most important message EVER, makes me sad.
Yesterday, I was cleaning out my stationary cabinet and found a beautiful card, telling my mother how, even though “I get so busy that I don’t get a chance to call you,” I’m still “thinking about you and storing up all the things I want to tell you.” It is a lovely card. It would have meant so much to my mother when she was alive…
had I not been too busy to send it.