“Time is My Friend”
Have you ever noticed that from time to time on your daily journey following Jesus that you stop using certain phrases that don’t match up with God’s truth in one way or another? Sometimes we do this consciously when we grasp a new truth or gain deeper insight into an old truth (i.e. something that we learned in the past but did not fully grasp its meaning or application). At other times, disposing of a pet phrase is an unconscious act, as we are slowly transformed into the image of Christ as we grow in Him.
One
of the first phrases to go in my life was saying, “Good luck!” on any number of
situations when I wanted something to go positively for somebody, like passing
an important exam, or taking on a difficult challenge (like losing
weight). Why do we say that? There is no such thing as luck. Wishing someone good luck is like wishing
that the tooth fairy would account for inflation the next time I lose a tooth
and put it under my pillow (by my reckoning she’s going to owe me about
$142. Or is it a “he?” But I digress). We use this phrase, of course, because it’s a
traditional way of wishing good things for others that goes back
centuries. It’s a conventional part of
our common language. I don’t think there
is anything ungodly about using the phrase.
Yet, at the same time, words mean things, and I’ve replaced it with some
phrases that I believe communicate more effectively what’s in my heart for the
person I’m bestowing it on, such as, “I will be praying that you are successful,”
or, “May God bless you.” In a much
earlier time, people would say the same thing with the singular, “Godspeed,”
but I suspect that hardly anybody knows what that word means anymore and that I
might get some weird looks if I used it.
Somewhere
along my Chrisian walk I realized something really important about prayer that
prompted me to ditch another common phrase used all the time by believers like
myself. If someone had shared a need
with me (e.g. losing a job and needing a new one) and I lacked the resources or
ability to be of any help whatsoever, I would almost always say, “Well, I’m not
able to help you with that, but at least I can pray for you.” It was well into my life in Christ when I
realized that by using that phrase, I was actually impugning the character
of God, saying, in so many words, “I can’t help you in any important
way that meets your need. Hmm, the last
thing on the ‘How to Be Helpful List’ is prayer; I can do that.” For years I did not realize that the very
most important and valuable thing I could do for a brother or
sister in need (or anybody else, for that matter) is to pray for them, i.e. to
appeal to the sovereign God of the universe who owns “the cattle on a thousand
hills” to look with consideration on the plight of the person I was praying
for. Prayer is the very first
thing I should do, not the last.
The
most recent development on this front in my life concerns time. I’m a doer by nature; it is very satisfying
to me to get a lot of things done that need to be done. Having a loose doorknob in my house would
drive me crazy, so I’ll get after it sooner than later.
And
I will get after it, because on top of being a doer, I’m also a list
person. All of my adult life I have had
two lists each day, one for work and one for home. My work list typically would have ten to
fifteen tasks on it each day, things such as “plan the faculty meeting,” or
“talk to Mr. Jones about assigning too much homework for his students each day”
(I was a school administrator, among other things). At home, my list might include “Fix the
doorknob,” (!), or, “Replace the brake pads on the truck.” Each day my list would look different because
I would scratch off each task that I completed, and at the same time, add new
things that needed to be done as they came up.
The last thing I would do at work, and then at home later in the day,
was to make my new lists for the next day. My most basic definition of a good day was
that my list was shorter at the end of the day than when the day began, if you
know what I mean.
That
brings me to the latest phrase of mine that I have had to reluctantly give
up. This one was difficult to part with,
because it’s mine (I made it up), and I’ve been saying it all these years,
until about a month ago when I painfully had to let it go. I’ve had a lifelong frustration with not
having enough time to do all the things on my list, or more specifically,
all the tasks on my list that I expect to get done on any particular day (I
always circle the items that I think I have time for; sometimes, I rewrite my
list and put all the circled items on top).
On most occasions, I do not get close to getting my “items for today”
accomplished. On average, I’m thinking
that I complete about 50% of them. Some
days it’s as low as 20%, and I rarely finish more that 60% of what I expect I will
get done.
I
know, there are some seemingly simple ways to solve this problem, such as not
putting so many items on my “today” list, allow more time for certain tasks,
and so on. It sounds like an easy thing
to make happen. The problem is, there’s
a mystery here. I have tried to make
these kind of adjustments any number of
times over the course of 40 years, but I almost always end up not having
enough time each day to do the things I think I can do. There is probably some metaphysical property
at work akin to Murphy’s Law, like, “Half the items that need to be done will
take twice as long as you think they will,” or some such variation. So, I’ve mostly chalked it up to fighting
against the forces of nature and losing big time, like trying to hold back the
wind with my hands.
And
that brings me to my old friend, my pet phrase.
I cannot tell you how many times (thousands) I have said to my
administrative assistant at the end of the work day, or to my wife at home, “Time
is not my friend.” It’s something of
a lament, a sort of consolation to myself that I’m not the problem, that it’s
the fault of my nemesis, time, that sets out daily to frustrate me.
However,
I don’t say that anymore. Recently, our
home Bible study group has been studying the attributes of God, and a few weeks
ago we studied His eternality, i.e. He has no beginning or end. We talked, amongst other things, about how
God does not exist within what we call “time,” that He exists outside of time
and is not bound by time. The truth of
the matter is that God created time and placed all human activity within
the realm of time. And it’s a
good thing that He did so, because it allows us the opportunity to slowly put
off the “old man” and to put on the “new man,” one of Paul’s ways of describing
the process of becoming more like Jesus.
And then it hit me, that “time” is one of God’s wonderful gifts He gives
to the human race, like rain and the seasons.
Following that realization, it was a short step for me to make the
observation that God gives His children enough time, every single day, to get
the things done that aren’t on our lists, but that are on the list He
has for us. So yes, the problem was
with me all along. Time wasn’t the issue,
it was how I conceived of my daily list.
I’m not privy to what is on the Lord’s “Bill’s To Do List” each day, but
one thing I’m now certain of, that He will give me enough time to get those
things done.
I
haven’t landed on a new phrase yet for when I don’t get all the things done on my
list. I’ve been trying out, “Time is my
friend,” but it doesn’t quite roll off the tongue the way the original version
did. I’m open to suggestions.
