Not Enough Time?
It happened again. I lost a whole month. Four-and-a-half weeks. Thirty-one days. More than seven hundred hours.
January ran away from home. It’s as if the month was never here. One minute Christmas decorations filled store shelves and the next moment chocolate hearts pushed chocolate Santas into clearance bins.
Can anyone tell me where January went and how to get it back? I had such high hopes for the past four weeks. Oh, the things I planned to accomplish! Projects around the house, yardwork, writing that next chapter, watching the movie everyone raved about.
Now February is here. But don’t blink because not only will it follow January out the door, February will do it even faster, leaving a trail of cardboard hearts and empty candy wrappers in its wake.
But I’m determined to learn from January’s wandering ways. And that means applying God’s wisdom to how I spend my time:
- Proverbs 16:3– “Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.”
- Proverbs 16:9– “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”
- Ephesians 5:16– “Make the best use of the time, because the days are evil.”
- Colossians 4:5– “Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.”
I’m also going to take my cue from an old story . . .
A Philosophy professor picked up a large, empty jar and filled it with rocks. Then he asked his students if the jar was full. “Yes,” they answered.
Then he picked up a bag of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly and the pebbles settled into the open areas between the rocks. Again he asked his students if the jar was full. Again, they answered yes.
The professor picked up a container of sand and poured it into the jar. The sand filled the remaining spaces.
What was the professor’s point?”
The jar represents our life. The rocks are the truly important things: a relationship with the Lord, family, friends, and health. The pebbles are the other things that matter, such as a job or home. The sand is everything else. If you put the sand in the jar first, there won’t be room for all of the rocks and pebbles.
The same goes for our life. If we spend all our time and energy on the small stuff, we’ll never have room for the things that are truly important.
One month down, eleven to go. Be sure to put the big rocks in first!
How are you ensuring that the important things are “put in” first in 2023?
I was just praying this morning about time, but in a different manner. My brother-in-laws mother passed away yesterday. She lives in another state and he was trying to get there to see her before she passed, but there was not enough TIME. Where is she spending eternity? I am sorry to say, I do not know.
Let today be the day of salvation because the TIME is short, and it is “appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgement” (Hebrews 9:27).
My prayer is that I have the TIME to share God’s truth with someone tday.
Time, water, love these are gifts we receive freely. Since we who are in Christ have abundant life, we need not grasp at straws. Do not worry for our Father in Heaven knows us. He understands we are mortal. We, on the other hand, often do not.
Time slips through our fingers like sand through an hourglass and we can’t stop it or slow it down. All we can do is use what we have well and ask God to help us be productive in it.
Thanks for this reminder that the time is short, Ava. God bless!
Great reminder to guard our time wisely. Proverbs 16:9: “The heart of man plans his way,
but the Lord establishes his steps.” This verse that you mentioned jumped out at me. This is not discouraging us from planning like I’ve thought in the past. Rather, I believe God wants us to plan (as confirmed by your other verses), but He will be the final say so as to how our plans play out. He’s asking us to accept that fact gracefully and with a thankful heart, remembering that He knows best!