All in God's Time

Do you have a list of things to do, waiting for you, tapping its fingers in irritation, anticipating that golden moment of when you’ve got ‘more time’? Is there anyone else out there who files resource making, displays, exercise, decorating, ironing, car washing, paper work, sorting email and even sleeping under the heading ‘when the holidays come’? Surely, some of you are also experience the irony of not having time to read the pile of ‘time management’ books on your shelf?

Time. Often we complain that there’s not enough; that we would do ‘it’, if only we had time. We classify our days as either / or – then usually feel that we made the wrong call. And, when we eventually crawl into bed mentally crippled by the lists of things that we forgot to do because we ran out of time, we promise ourselves that we’ll make time for the important things… tomorrow.

In the last few weeks, I should feel that I have more time. My diary has been deleted, my calendar cleared and events erased. And yet, I seem to still struggle to complete the to do list; there still seems to be tasks jostling to be top of the priority list and I’m still having ridiculously late nights in order to cram everything in. Thankfully, God has hollered and redirected me in the way He usually does when I’m feeling unable to cope. Drum roll for… Ecclesiastes Chapter 3.

“There is a time for everything,” – that pretty much sums up my to-do list, and more. In case I may think that there’s something on my list that doesn’t feature on God’s, He goes on to make some pretty all-inclusive categories, and some which put my ‘organise the towels’ task in its rightful place. I love how God recognises that there is a time “to plant and a time to uproot” – He understands the nuances of life. Helpfully for us introverts, He knows that there’s a “time to be silent and a time to speak”. The list continues… In fact it’s reassuring that God recognises that there is “a season for every activity under the heavens.”

Yet what I find incredibly helpful is that that the season is not necessarily NOW. It doesn’t necessarily have to be THIS moment. THIS minute. THIS hour. THIS day. THIS season. It is, through prayer, at the time that God has ordained. Remember that “At just the right time… Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5v6) God’s season isn’t necessarily now but is “right”. Which means I can rest a little more securely in knowing that ‘my’ time is ‘His’ time and although I should spend it wisely, I don’t necessarily have to race through my to do list, rather, I can rest, reflect and inquire more about how He wants me to spend this season.

Prayer

Thank you that you are with us in this season. Help us to recognise that these weeks may be more than a time to deal with the ‘to do’ list; this may be a time when you want us to rest, to plant, to mourn, to dance, to embrace, to speak, to be silent… help us to discern how to spend this time for your glory. 

Amen.

Challenge

Consider your to-do list. Rather than worrying about what you haven’t done, why not write a new list of what you have done. Try to reflect on how and why God may have rewritten your list.

Written by Abi McGowan

Teacher of English and Literacy Co-ordinator at Bluecoat Aspley Academy