Just a few days ago, on April 29th, our daughter turned thirteen. Finleigh has now joined the ranks of
teenage-hood, and she is extremely happy to finally reach this milestone. Meanwhile, Mandi and I are excited for her, too, except that there is a painful ache we feel in our hearts. Simultaneously we are both thrilled for her growth and health and development and saddened by the loss of those precious toddler and elementary years. It feels like just yesterday I was watching the nurse weigh her after birth...now she's officially a teenager. Wow. (Sigh.)
Where does the timego--seriously?
Maybe you, too, feel overwhelmed by the passage of time. Life goes by so fast that we often forget to take the time to pause, slow down and drink in the grace of each new day. We're so busy getting things done and accomplishing goals that we forget that the true joys in life are simply the ones we take for granted: food on the table, clothes on our backs, a bed in which to sleep. Time seems to speed past us like a Formula 1 race car and yet, practically speaking, time doesn't go fast or
slow. In fact, time, chronologically, just moves along as it always has. Time doesn't move any faster or slower than it did when you were five years old, or twenty years old, or seventy years old. But our perceptions of time shift based on our priorities. When we're too hurried to grow up and graduate in order to find a job, get married and have children, time can feel slower than it really is. On the other hand, we can reach midlife and wonder how our children grew up so quickly and begin to realize how short life really is. But the fact remains: Each of us has the same amount of clock-time in the day, and each one of us is given the freedom to use it in ways that fulfill or neglect our purpose on this earth.
Eleanor Powell said, "What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God."
When it comes to time, especially as Christ-followers, we must treat time as one of the most precious gifts on earth. Though we don't know the exact years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, or seconds we'll live in this life, God knows. God cares about the time we manage as our sacrificial gift to Him. We are called to use time in a way that maximizes our ministry and assists us in blessing others in the same way we've been blessed by Jesus. When we consider the Gospel accounts of Jesus' ministry it is plain to see that Jesus knew the value of chronological time. He was sent on a mission and he had a specific amount of time to obediently fulfill all that the Law and the Prophets
said of him. As the Messiah, he calculated what time he had and effectively used that remaining time to care for the hurting, love the forlorn and the forgotten, and seek and save those who were lost. Jesus knew that each moment was to be seized and utilized in a way that glorified God and moved toward the goal of God's redemptive plan. Every interaction Jesus wisely considered along his itinerary. He never wasted the opportunities he was given to teach, to proclaim the Kingdom of God, or to meet the needs of the hurting, the lonely and the left out. Jesus was constantly using time as an ally instead of an enemy. He never fretted about time but treated it as a tool for honoring his
heavenly Father while demonstrating the inbreaking of the Kingdom in the world (Luke 17:21).
Similarly, we must treat time carefully in order to take advantage of every opportunity we have to glorify God and serve others. I love that the Greek words for time are considered as "clock-time" (chronos) and "opportunity" (kairos). In the movie, "Dead Poets' Society", Robin Williams played the character of a poetry teacher who inspired the boys of a boarding school to maximize the potential of life and seek to live life to the full. One of the famous scenes depicts Williams taking the students out in the hallway to see the pictures of former student-athletes embossed in glass picture frames who had histories and stories "to tell" the current students. Williams then asks his class to lean in more closely to the pictures of the boys in the picture frames so that they could hear the whispers of lives gone by. Williams softly encourages them: "Carpe diem! Seize the day, boys." As the
film progresses, the audience observes various students living out their version of "carpe diem", each learning from their choices and mistakes along the way. You and I, however, are called to "seize the
day" for God's glory and honor; we are to honor the time we have without becoming a slave to it. In fact, while we are to work during the week God calls us to rest, to find Sabbath, and stop thinking about time as it relates to getting things done and accomplishing tasks. Since God rested, we ought to as well. And when we rest, and take the time to do so, we worship God and venerate His holy name. This is an excellent way to cherish time both as a gift from God and to God.
So, although time seems to be "flying by" for meas a parent, time is the same as it ever was. My role as a disciple of Jesus is to use the chronos I've been given to celebrate and take hold of the kairos that God offers me each day. This means that I don't have to worry about regretting my time with Finleigh. I can, however, find ways to let her know each and every day that I love her and am proud and grateful to be her dad. Though I might not always feel like I have the time to show her, I can certainly make time to display my care by blessing her in ways that manifest God's grace. And you know something else? When you and I celebrate various opportunities to honor the Lord by giving of our time, by sacrificing our time and by sharing our time we demonstrate to the world that time is indeed a gift. When I give Finleigh and Mandi my time, I'm giving them a gift (in the same way
they give me their time and attention)! Therefore, no longer are we bound by the clock but instead we are bound by God's freeing, life-giving love! Love now determines our steps. Love now decides the words we use. Love now chooses for us the suffering we must do for others. Love seizes the opportunities to choose Christ in our daily moments, and when Christ is lauded and praised in those special instances, lives become fuller, more robust and more at peace.
And who doesn't want a life like that?
I choose to end thismessage by leaving you with Eph. 5:15-17 (NLT): "So be careful how youlive. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most ofevery opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do." The Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul calls us to use time wisely, to make the most of our kairos in the midst of our chronos and to remain obedient to loving God and loving neighbor with all that we have. So, whether you believe that time is speeding up or slowing down, just know that neither is true. More than likely, you are the one speeding up or slowing down. Therefore, pause, remember that time is a gift, and treat it as such. Then, and only then, can you live your life as a gift to God, just as Eleanor Powell entreats us all to do (allow me to share her quote here one more time):
"What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God."
Seeking to spend and save my life as a gift to God,
Pastor Will
><> John 3:30 <><
