In the past several months my mind has been pondering the essence of time. All throughout the day we are checking our watches, the clock on the wall or our cell phones to see what time it is. We set alarms on our phones to be sure we get up in the morning and don’t miss out on that important Monday meeting. We use a paper planner or the calendar on our phones to set a plan for our daily lives. We plan for a day, a week, a month and some plan out a full year ahead.

I have mentioned it on another blog post that I am not a huge lover of a planned schedule. I feel so confined with a time budget that it makes me itchy inside. All you extreme planners you can stop cringing now because that is not what we are going to be chatting about today.

I was driving in my think tank and this question rose up in my noggin, “Do I value time?” The question stopped me dead in my tracks. Whenever a question like this drops into my soul I know I am about to go on a little thought journey, and I wasn’t wrong about my assumption.

There are 1,440 minutes in a day, um, that is a lot of minutes! Seriously y’all, that blows my mind! I know I typically don’t ever think of the amount of minutes there are in a day because I am usually just concerned about how I will get all the things I need to get done. I freely assume that time will just be there for me.

Time can be a friend and a foe. Time causes those in grief to feel even more distant from what was lost while still having to carry the pain as a reminder. Time, when encapsulated as a whole event, can make us say things like, “I had a great time!” We love when time is on our side. We love when time seems to be good to us. We love time when it allows us moments to share with others.

Time is a precious gift. Even in our greatest efforts, we cannot control time. Time is sweetly given, but it cannot be manipulated or cajoled.  In the Bible King Solomon was right to say that there is an appointed time and purpose for everything. We are born at the exact time we were intended to be. We are living because God has divinely given us, time.

God sees time from a whole different perspective. In the realm of God’s kingdom time doesn’t exist the way we think of time. Earthly time is different than God’s time. A day to him is like a thousand years.  Think of this…..through every generation God has remained the same, He has never changed and never will. Time cannot change God (MIND BLOWN), that is so reassuring!

He doesn’t worry about time like we do. We tend to think that if something hasn’t happened yet (our life timeline and our schedule) that it is too late or it is never going to happen. We tend to define our whole lives on time and what we have or have not accomplished (ie: start a career,  buy a home, find “the one,” have kids, travel, open a business, end or start something later than we should have etc.). But I want to challenge our thought process on this. The way I see it is, every day and every step of our journey is ON TIME.  You haven’t missed out on something because it didn’t fit your time line or come into the confines of social expectations.

God doesn’t think linear in the realms of right or wrong.

Most all of us have a routine, something that we are familiar with that brings us comfort and creates a safe mental space that allows us to feel we can take on the day with confidence. We make great efforts to try and maintain this familiarity so we can feel that we are “ok” or doing the “right” thing in this thing we call, life. Routines bring consolation that we have things under control and, in relative theory, will eventually obtain the reward for our continuous efforts. Even with our greatest effort to “be good” and “do right” we have to remember that things within the time of you being good or right can be altered in a moment with the invasion of interruptions and unexpected happenings.

Just remember this, God isn’t routine. He is not confined to routine or our earthly time. He never does things the same way. He is constant, yes, but he is not a method. He is not restricted by time.

I have been wondering what it would look like if I truly gave God full reign over the time he has given to me. To really view my earthly existence as the precious gift it is. To let time lead. To honor time. To not think of it as an endless commodity that I get to do whatever the heck I want to. To respect time, eternal time. To not see time as a means to my own end.

To be so aware of time that it changes my perspective of what we hold on to and what needs to go. That it changes my perspective of how I see the world, through the lens that this life is truly not about me.

Once a minute goes by that’s it, you don’t get it back. I am learning and choosing to make every minute count.

What do I think about? What do I dwell on? Who do I invest in? Who do I help? Who do I serve? Who do I encourage? Who do I make time for? Who do I take time out for, even if it isn’t convenient? Who do I need to go to and make things right? Who do I need to show kindness to? Who do I need to call? Do you say things like, “if I can only have ‘this’ THEN I will be fulfilled and feel better about who I am?” You get the idea…these are just a few questions to get your mind thinking about what can get our minds percolating on the treasure of time and what we are choosing to do with what we have been given.

Lately I am being reminded to ask myself, “How am I being intentional to do well with all the time I am have allotted in a day?”

Time is only eternal in God’s kingdom. That we would live and love with this eternal perspective here on earth.

Time allows us to be present.

Time is a gift.

Time can be a friend.

Time is a foe.

Time is grace.

Time is new mercy every morning.

The time is now, to do.

Praying you find peace this season walking in the awareness of eternal time.

Have a hope filled day!

Til next…. (ahem) time! 😉