Making the Most of Your Time
Time is defined as “the measured or measurable period during which an action, process, or condition exists or continues. Time is measured in terms of events which succeed one another from the past through the present to the future.” Ultimately, time goes on and is the duration from which all things happen.
As I go back in time over six months ago, I was a substitute teacher getting up at 5:30 am preparing for the day as a reading intervention specialist. My day was consumed with blocks of time dedicated to helping young students learn to read and to enhance their reading comprehension. I was constantly looking at my watch to determine when I needed to finish up with one group of students and prepare for the next group. Time was essential, I needed to be on time to pick up students for their reading intervention. If I was too early, I had to wait, (wasting time), if I was late in returning the students to their class, they would have to catch up with their workload. Time marches on, it doesn’t wait for you, you have to keep up with it!
“God will bring judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time for every deed.”
Ecclesiastes 3:17
I recently took the time off challenge. I put my watch aside and didn’t care what time it was. I turned off the morning alarm and waited for the sun to shine through the window, alerting me that a new day had begun. There were moments that I would look down at my wrist checking the time only to discover that I wasn’t wearing a watch. Time didn’t have the same control over my life as it did before. Perhaps you can challenge yourself today and take off your watch or refrain from looking at whatever device you use to tell time and live in the moment.
Don’t allow time to confine your existence for no matter how hard you try, you can’t control the clock. Seconds move quickly, minutes pass by and hours can seem as if they last forever, and yet mornings turn into afternoons, days turn into weeks, and before you know it, years have passed you by. And yet, in the end, time rules all….
The book of Ecclesiastes tells us that there is a time for everything.
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
Ecclesiastes 3:1-11
A time to be born and a time to die,
A time to plant and a time to uproot,
A time to kill and a time to heal,
A time to tear down and a time to build,
A time to weep and a time to laugh,
A time to mourn and a time to dance,
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
A time to embrace and a time to refrain,
A time to search and a time to give up,
A time to keep and a time to throw away,
A time to tear and a time to mend,
A time to be silent and a time to speak,
A time to love and a time to hate,
A time for war and a time for peace….
He had made everything beautiful in its time.
So often we find ourselves planning for our days, the week ahead, and even months in advance, and yet just as we make plans, our lives change, time presses on but events and circumstances are out of our control.
James, asks us to ponder the question, “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life?” He further states this very sober obvious state of our lives, “You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” (James 4:13-14) Therefore let us spend our time here on this earth wisely and with great discernment. Let time be your guide, not your burden.
Use your time wisely, making the most of every opportunity. (Ephesians 5: 15-17) Our time on earth may be limited but our time in eternity is infinite. We need to keep in mind though, that the way we use our time on earth will ultimately decide our time in eternity. We say then with full confidence, “I trust in you, O Lord; You are my God. My times are in your hands….” (Psalm 31:14-15)
Allow God to guide you in using your time with purpose, conviction, and confidence that there is a season for everything and His time is just right.
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