Tick Tock

Started yesterday:  I often pray to be able to use my time more wisely.  I am a procrastinator, a dawdler, a socialite and often lose track of time with which I should be doing more productive things.  Now, I am smart enough not to ask for more time, because I know I would not use that wisely either.  I'd waste it away just like the other.

So, I pray for better decisions, little reminders that the clock is ticking, and an organized schedule.  Now, if you know me, you know I am not a 'planner' person.  I love planners and their sleek and organized look and how it all makes sense.  I love to find adorable or fashionable ones and fill them up with dates and appointments and deadlines.  Then a week or two passes and I have no clue where said planner is, or it sits right in front of me, but I haven't opened it in days.  I am not a calendar person.

However, I have learned that in order to juggle my schedule, 3 children and a husband it does take some planning.  Thankfully, we have phones with calendars in them now.  I use that, but I digress.  God has told me to "number my days aright, that I may gain a heart of wisdom" (Ps 90:12) so He expects me to be meaningful with the time and tasks He has set for me to do.

But in the same sense He has told me that "my times are in His hands" (Ps 31:15) so He is in control of it all.  I can't be so caught up in planning it all that I try to control it all and forget to trust in God. 

Mainly, God doesn't need time.  He views everything in light of eternity.  Something my measly little brain cannot begin to comprehend.  Thus 2 Peter 3:8 says, "But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day."  God doesn't need a little clock to keep track of things, it is all eternity to Him.  But He knows I need time.  He knows I need to use it wisely but trust that it is in His hands.

I can just see God chuckling at me when I am having a slight melt-down in a time crunch, when I send up a 'hail Mary" prayer asking for everything to go "just so" so that I can get it all done or make it there in time.  I can see Him sigh in disbelief when I waste away another hour doing mindless searching on the computer instead of folding laundry, doing dishes or reading books with my kids.  Heck He probably even lets out a quick laugh when I pray everyday that I would use my time wisely, thinking, "If only you knew, child.  If only you knew."

So, for us, time is important.  God asks us to be stewards of what He has given us.  Our time is one of those things.  But we have to remember that He ultimately controls it all and we have to give it to Him, for, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: 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 from embracing, 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." (Ecl 3:1-8)

God has given us time to use wisely and to trust Him to be in control of it all at the same time.