Time’s fun when you’re having flies. ~Kermit the Frog
Time. We long for it, we try to manage it, we watch it surge past the dikes and dams we carefully build to hold and hoard it.
When you say the word, TIME, out loud, what do you hear? A wistful tone of yearning for moments lost, or something more like panic?
I hear panic, especially when my to-do list is long. I feel circled and threatened by the beasts of interruption and disruption; unexpected problems and distractions that devour my day.
Am I time’s wise steward, or its indignant owner?
Time, when viewed as a limited inventory I must hoard and protect, becomes an idol.
- Don’t waste my time
- I don’t have the time
- I’ve spent too much time
I find myself miserably serving something I was meant to hold lightly.
Dethroning the tyrant
How can you and I keep time in its proper place? A few ideas:
- Daily hand God your calendar and say out loud, “You manage my day!”
- Embrace interruptions. Life is not a list to be checked off; it’s a voice to be followed.
- Practice random acts of extravagant attentiveness. If you live in a culture where everyone is “too busy” this could change a life.
- When your plans and productivity are thwarted, laugh. What you laugh at cannot bully you.
- Like Kermit the Frog in the quote above, stop looking at the clock and enjoy the flies. As Jesus said, Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
Does time feel like a tyrant? What are doing to dethrone it?
12 replies on “Is Time Your Tyrant?”
WOW! What a truth you opened my eyes to! I never considered time as an idol. Now I can see that I let it be. I am always fighting time. I let it get in my way. I let it control me. I make long lists and try to “win” by the end of the day only to feel defeated by the end of the day if they are not all crossed off.
Thank you for giving me some tools to see time as it is to overcome that obsession. If only I can find the time 🙂
Cretia, I’m so glad you “found” some time to comment. I think many of us can relate to you. Be blessed today!
Your timing was perfect with this! Thank you for the reminder that we have a choice in how we understand time and today I choose to turn away from the beast of interruption and disruption and be fully present in the moments that comprise my day. Well done faithful one!!
I’m with you, Judi! Most of my favorite memories were “interruptions” of my planned schedule. May this day be different!
“Practice random acts of extravagant attentiveness.” ..that really hit me. I have lived so long in the “tyranny of the urgent” even at the expense of my spiritual health – and I know what happens…Boom, flat on my face. Celebrating the discipline of being attentive to God and really listening to Him was enforced by my daughters in “love.” Because they loved me they wanted me to rest and let the healing take place…God loves me even more and desires my whole-hearted attentiveness. Thanks for the “timely” word today. I needed to be reminded.
Your words resonate with many of us, Karen. You remind us that God, too, awaits our attention while we pore over our long lists.
“What you laugh at cannot bully you.” Which reminds me of “I laugh in your general direction.” (Monty Python) May the sound of laughter be ever present in my day, regardless of what time it is!! Thank you Janet for the poignant reminder!! 🙂
“The sound of laughter ever present,” versus brooding over time slipping away. Hm, which will I choose today? Thanks, Rebecca.
I just read something about time in the spiritual classic “The Cloud of Unknowing.” I’ll send it to you sometime.
Love,
Marilyn
Please do, Marilyn, now I am curious!
Love this J.
Recently when “time flustered” been making myself ‘pause with Him.’
Immediate peace is delivered as He shows me that I am exactly where He desires…every moment, whether a part of my agenda or not!
All to Him…including our timepieces- those ever-sly, ever-owning idols!
Thank you for this wisdom, Laurie–‘pause with Him.’ I hope you had a blessed birthday!