Day 29 – Time

 

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance…
a time to seek, and a time to lose… 
I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. He has made everything suitable for its time… God has done this, so that all should stand in awe before him. (Ecclesiastes 3: 1-4, 6, 10-11, 14)

 So much of our relationship with time is anxious. We argue and fight with it. The supposed lack of time is one of the miseries of our age. Our resources for daily living are preoccupied with finding ways of doing things more quickly and so ‘saving’ time. The writer of Ecclesiastes would call this kind of living ‘vanity’, literally ‘empty’. It is a waste of time.

We need another place to start from.
Time is God-given.
God allows time to be time.
Time is not working against us.
Time gives life its direction and priorities.
All finds its beauty in time.
Thank God for time.

(Extract from Dust & Glory by David Runcorn)

 For Reflection

Many of us would say lockdown has given us more time on our hands. How have you used that time? Has it been fruitful or painful? Have we felt blessed or cheated during this period?

 Prayer

Lord, teach me, in the present season of my life, to embrace its gift, to be faithful to its calling and to discover its beauty.