Time: A Destructive Dilemma

         Tick tock, tick tock. How many times a day do you look at your watch? A clock? Whatever digital device you are using these days. Some days, we can’t get the clock to go fast enough. We are grudgingly willing the hands to move faster as we stare down the time. Seconds turn into minutes, minutes to hours, the numbers seem to taunt us. Whether we are sitting at our desk at work, overrun with unattended papers stacked to the ceiling, or maybe we’re alone in a doctors office, awaiting a dreaded outcome. On the opposite end of that spectrum, there are others that want nothing more than for time to stand still, just ask any new mother. One day, they are cooing lovingly at their tiny miracle, and the next they are attending their High School graduation. Time can easily become our enemy.

          If we were all honest with ourselves, we would probably admit that at some point in our lifetime, we let time itself dictate our agenda. Most of us could probably even say that our daily routines are measured in time. We set an alarm to get up, we set a reminder to go to bed,  we measure our steps for goodness sake! We know that we have to be out of the door by a certain time, then we watch the clock until lunch time, eagerly awaiting the time to leave. 

          I think it’s safe to say that the driving force for the majority of people is, time. It’s a part of our daily lives that we cannot escape because the world revolves around time, as sure as it turns on it’s axis.  The dilemma is not time itself, but rather what we do with it that counts. We ALL have the same 24 hours in our day, no more, no less. It’s how we choose to use those 24 hours that matter. I believe the solution to this is what the world would label as “time management”, but for the Christian, instead of calling it time management, I think it would better be described as Motivated Moments. We as believers, have to process time differently. We need to filter every action, every response through the question, “Will this propel me further towards my purpose, or will it hold me back?”. 

          I know that can sound a bit harsh, but maybe it’s time that someone shake you, and rattle you to the core. If you bristled at that statement, maybe, just maybe, it’s something you need to take a closer look at. Could this be what’s been holding you back? Could it be something as simple as managing your time better? I believe so. We all tend to get caught up in the ways of the world, it’s so easy to do. We all do it, but if we could set in motion a new way of thinking, a new way of measuring ourselves, would it be possible to change? Well, I have no intention of changing how the world thinks, but what I am in control of is “me”. I am the only one that can change “me”.  So, yes, a big resounding Yes!, I do believe it’s possible to change. I will intentionally choose to make every moment count. 

Don’t take my word for it, but measure it against the only Word that counts.

           Here, the Message is very clear, it doesn’t mince words. Romans 12, verses 1 and 2.

 “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”