T is for TIME

I've decided that from now on I'm not going to find anything interesting or exciting, that I'm going to be bored by everything. I've also decided not to fall asleep at night any more, never to watch the last fifteen minutes of a game when Liverpool are losing by one goal, not to attend any more concerts by artists whom I really enjoy and never, ever go on a holiday again. Am I being too hasty? I don't think so for when you get to be the wrong side of fifty (or is it the right side?), every single minute is precious and those are all the moments when time just goes far too quickly. Not like a long, uninspiring lecture or sermon, having a conversation with someone who does all the talking while you do all the listening, walking the floor all night with toothache, an overnight flight , watching the last fifteen minutes of a game where Liverpool are hanging on by one goal, waiting for a bus, revising for an exam, going to school, waiting for that all important letter, or waiting for the result of a hospital tests. Now those are the situations when time really drags. It's almost as if two different clocks are in operation but in truth an hour has never been any shorter or longer, it's just how you spend it that changes your mindset. And I guess we can find time for the things we really want to find time for. But an hour's a long time in the wrong place or the wrong company.

I used to have time for everything when I was a kid, when the days seemed long, the evenings passed quickly and the summer holidays even faster. A whole half hour of Latin was endless, a double period of Art, a life sentence and an evening's revision, just too much to bear. It was a time when Sunday afternoons went slowly but the evenings just disappeared as a new school week loomed and when there just didn't ever seem to be enough time to play football before darkness covered the whole yard. But nobody was making demands on my time, only me, yet as I grew older, I soon discovered that I needed the whole evening to revise and a few more besides and just couldn't pack all the things I needed to do on a Sunday afternoon because my time was no longer my own.

I suppose none of us is any different and each day brings new demands in its twenty four hours and we respond to those demands by putting greater stress into our lives as we try to accomplish more in less time. And isn't it funny that no matter how many new or extra things crop up, we still seem to find the time to fit them all in. It's make you wonder what you've been doing with your time all along. The problem, though is that probably something is squeezed into less time or out altogether to make way for another demand that we deem to be more relevant or important. Sometimes it's family time, husband-wife time, boyfriend-girlfriend time, children time, exercise time, chill out time, visiting time, television time, but more often than not it's God time. Imagine that, the One who made time in the first place not being given time! I suppose it begins with the time we spend at home in quietness with Him, but sometimes it's as simple as wanting 'me' time on a Sunday morning when the week has been totally hectic. The trouble is, an hour lost is exactly that. Lost! And it's often difficult to reconcile the fact that we call ourselves Christians and love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength but only at those times we have set aside when we're not busy with some other project.

There used to be a band called The Joy Strings. They were a youth part of the Salvation army in the sixties and mum somehow managed to get one of their EPs. It contained a song called 'Time' and the lyrics, though they are somewhat vague now, went something like, ' Men can find time to worry and hate, men can find time to fight, men can't find time before it's too late, too late to find time for what's right'. This may not be correct word for word but the sentiment is pretty clear. We make time for what we want and we waste time on what we want. But God took the time to show HE loved us and maybe it's time we gave Him back what is rightfully His - the time we call our own. In Paul's letter to the Corinthians we read, 'I tell you, now is the time of God's favour, now is the day of salvation.' We would do well to be ready for Jesus Himself says of His return, 'No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,but only the Father.' I hope you've taken the time to read this. It could lengthen your life!