What Time Is It?

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens: (Ecclesiastes 3:1)


    I remain eternally indebted to the woman for whom my father worked for many years.  Not only because that second income was what put me through college but also because of a gift she sent me when I was perhaps twelve years old. 

  She had been to England that summer and sent me a copy of J.R.R. Tolkein's "The Hobbit", and a one volume copy of "The Lord of The Rings".  It was by the way, one of the first single paperback volumes of the trilogy. After the movies this became very common, but back in the "70,' certainly less though.   My hat is off to someone who had the fore site  to engage me with such a combination of good,complex writing and adventure.

  O course I was to discover I wasn't alone in my love for the book.  It turns out many of my friends had read, or were reading the trilogy the same time I had.  Being young boys our discussion would sometimes turn to our favorite characters, or who we thought which character we most resembled.  For those of you who are enmeshed in social media, this is what we did before we had Facebook surveys to tell us which character we are like.

  Oddly enough everyone thought they resembled one of the heroes of the book.  Which is not such a bad thing. Children and young teens should have heroes who display the noblest of our virtues to look up to, or emulate. We all had our favorites, noble kings, faithful elves, grouchy but stalwart dwarfs. We all had favorites, but I don't know how honest we were. 

  If I were to take an honest examination of my character I can see that my nature is not always so ennobled. The character I most resemble is Gollum. If you are not familiar with the character he is in many ways the most tragic figure. He is twisted by possession and longing for one thing.  It is His precious: The One Ring. It is his precious and he never wants to let go of it, or be parted from it. In fact it is in the parting that he finishes his long slippery slope into madness. Now you know why I never take those Facebook quizzes. Who wants that displayed to the world?

  I don't hold onto a ring, but I admit I have an obsession I hold onto: My time. My time is precious to me. I hold onto it jealously.  And as I look around I know I am not alone.  Most of us hold our time with both hands don't we? We treat it as a precious commodity: "Don't waste My Time". We loath interruptions.  We agonize when our day, or even an hour goes off course. From the moment the alarm goes off until we go to bed we live scheduled, orderly lives, that always go off schedule and are hardly ever orderly. Which makes us hold onto time even tighter. We stroke the clock and mutter, "My Precious" under our breadth.

   Thankfully God has provided a away out of the madness. Look again at the Scripture at the top of the blog. If you can get the old song by the Byrds out of your head for a second look at what it's saying.  There is a time for everything.  This is God's way of inviting us to loosen our grip on our schedules and our time. To see it less of a commodity to be hoarded and more of a blessing to be shared.  It's his reminder that time is like a wet bar of soap. The tighter you hold onto it the easier it slips away. Instead it to be held gently enjoyed for what it is and appreciated for what it is, not for what it is not. 

  It's God's reminder that time is ever changing but He is not. If we are to hold not something tightly it should be the one who is everlasting not something that always eludes our grasp. It's only when we do this that we can truly appreciate each moment that God gives us.  It allows us to see life without the blinders.  It helps us to see the interruption may not be a curse but a blessing. That child or grandchild trying to climb into your lap when you have work to do: Is he/she a moment of blessing or an interruption? That choice is yours. But we should choose wisely.

 I'm not completely there yet. I still hate interruptions to 'my' schedule. I'm still guilty of seeing my time as Precious. But as I walk with God I'm seeing it as precious for a different reason. It's precious because it's God gift He shares with me. It's precious because it's a chance to be a blessing. Its curious because come what may God has a plan and purpose even for the interruptions of life.  Let us all learn to loosen our grip on time that we might more firmly grasp the hand of a precious Savior.

In Christ,
Rev. Dr. Brian Jones <><