Time!!

There is a time for everything and a season for every purpose under the heavens. Ecclesiastes 3:1

Time is a wicked thing. It goes and comes like a thief in the night and takes with it our energy, beauty and youth. copied

The thing about all the restrictions imposed upon us by COVID is that we have learned to work together to help keep ourselves and others safe, while learning to improvise to make certain restrictions work. Time at home with family has become more abundant, and we have had to adjust to having more of it and using it wisely.

The thing about time is that we all have the same amount of it – 24 hours in each day, 7 days in each week, and 365+ days in each year. It’s all about how we use it, waste it, or forget how precious it is.

In my daily pool time, there are just a handful of us who come at a certain time in the morning. The pool is restricted to three lanes for social distancing purposes, but we have found ways to accommodate each other by using less space while keeping our distance and limiting our time in the water. However, if the lanes are all full, we sit and wait our turn. It takes time, but it’s all about safety and concern for others.

The other morning while we were going about our exercises, a man entered who apparently didn’t have time to abide by the rules and wait his turn. The lanes were full. Rules dictate that you sit and wait, but his time was too valuable, so he began to pace up and down the side of the pool while constantly checking his watch. He made quite a scene but refused any offers to share a lane or accommodate him in a smaller space. In a minute, he grabbed his stuff and stormed out. Through the glass windows, we witnessed a tirade as he screamed and complained to the manager because he didn’t have time to wait!!

As we watched, I couldn’t help but snicker because his behavior was much like a child that doesn’t get their way, and somewhat like the political and social world out there today. I began to imagine how the world looks right now to God. As he watches all of us impatiently waiting to get back to normal while being unwilling to make time for Him even though we have more of it to devote to Him. He must be tired.

One would hope that at this point in time more and more people would be devoting the extra time to studying God’s word, trying to be more Godly, and striving to doing the right thing daily. However, more and more of us are going about our lives with no regard for the Bible, making excuses for not acting more Godly, and being content with wrongs around us.

Right or wrong, everyone seems to be doing what is right in their own eyes these days. It is easy to become comfortable with the wrong things in our world, and believe that we don’t have time enough to do anything about them. People don’t seem to care if there are wrongs out there, just don’t let it interfere with our time schedule. God must be tired!

Even as most of us are receiving the long awaited vaccine, one would hope we would all take the time to pray for a total resolution to the virus, comfort and healing for those affected by it, and hope for a brighter future for our world. It doesn’t take a large amount of time to offer up prayers.

There are two truths about this life, time marches on, and none of us get out of here alive. The time has come to stand up for our beliefs, unashamedly declare our God and His power, and take time to pray for this country and all who we know who are affected by the virus.

Cicely Tyson says, You come here to go there. We just need to use our time wisely!