Friday, January 22, 2010

Finding Time for Life

If we stop for a moment and think about all the changes which have occurred in the last century, we would marvel. We have seen transportation go from horse and buggy to fast moving cars, rocket ships to the moon, jets that reach excessive speed and cruise ships that make the Titanic look like a minnow. Two world wars of which most of the veterans have passed away, including my Father and Uncle and their fathers and uncles before them. Time has taken their lives. Some live in the history books others in our memories. I have witnessed a generation almost completely disappear. When I look back to what seems like yesterday, I was a young girl. I now realize that time does not stand still. When you are a young child you can’t wait to be older. When you are older and on the other side of the hill you wish you were younger. Over 2000 years have passed since Christ’s death. When I think how fast the centuries go by I guess 2000 years really is not that long of a time period.
I believe it is a common feeling to feel like we are on a train out of control, rushing to work, rushing home, running to that next appointment. We kiss our loved ones as we fly by them at the door. Sometimes we don’t have time for that. We say we will call tomorrow, but tomorrow quickly turns into next year. We wonder how we lose touch with friends or how we grow apart. The most important thing that often seems to get squeezed out of my busy life is God. I believe many people can relate. Unlike the woman of noble character mentioned in the book of Proverbs, who seems to have time to do many things in balance, I have not arrived at that perfection yet. I don’t know if she had time to pray to God? Perhaps her communication with God is all throughout the day while doing the many things mentioned. The key in the epilogue of the Wife of Noble Character is in verse 31:30-31 which says: “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate”.
Have you ever experienced the overload? Finally you have a quiet moment to yourself when you finally fall into bed, then you begin to pray, only to fall asleep in the middle of a sentence. I know that has happened to me. God becomes the last thing on the priority list rather than the first. Then we wonder why our days are so full and why we get irritable and short on patience etc. Starting your day without God, can be like an addict trying to get through the day without coffee, cigarettes or drugs. I need God no doubt about it.
Who wants to get up extra early to spend time talking to God? Is an extra hour of sleep more important than God? Some people think so. When you think about it; I know I have thought about it because I am getting older. I started comparing how many years I’ve lived and possibly how many years I have left to live. Then I think about how much time of a person’s life is really just slept away. When I think about it in this perspective, I think maybe I don’t really need that much sleep. My high school science teacher Mr. Deer told our class that he only slept a few hours a night. He was up before the birds. He said he had many things to do and didn’t want to sleep his life away. Keeping this perspective, I try to get up early. In doing so I notice how beautiful the sunrise looks with the fog lying over the fields. I take the dog for a walk and look wide eyed at everything around me and I praise God. I talk to him as I walk, and think wow, if I had of stayed in bed, I would have missed seeing all this beauty. The more I talk to God, the better I feel. My day begins with a fresh vibrant outlook on life. The book of Ecclesiastes 3:1-9 reminds us that there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.

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