A pilot came over the intercom and said, “Well, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that I don’t know where we’re going. The good news is we’re making good time.”
That seems to be all that matters to our society – we’re getting there in a hurry. Arriving somewhere on time is not half as important as enjoying the trip. I heard a story of two cross country truckers. A younger man arrived at his destination exhausted and harried. A much older man arrived refreshed and happy. Puzzled, the youth asked his elder why that was the case. The white-haired wise man said, “You were on a job driving across the continent. I was taking a ride through the country.”
Jesus only had three and a half years to complete the most important mission in all history yet he was never in a hurry. He made time for interruptions, intrusions and gave Himself to prayer and meditation. How is this possible?
First of all, He clearly understood His mission was to hurting and needy people and that’s where He always put His focus. He knew His limits as humanity and took time to gain inner strength. While in His deity He had no limitations, He made adjustments for His humanity and recharged. Time for people around us, rest and recharging is never wasted.
Although His time on earth was short, He set aside time to invest in training His disciples so the Gospel would continue to be preached long after He ascended back to glory. Time spent in teaching others is vitally important for the future.
Our time will be spent where our priorities are. What’s most important to us? Do our daily actions and activities reflect those priorities? Urgent things cry out for attention - laundry, dirty dishes and dust bunnies. Important things do not scream for our attention when ignored – God, children and family. It’s easy to set aside the eternal things and allow our life style to be wrapped up in temporal activities. Jesus made time for children. Children spell love T-I-M-E. Our families would rather have our time than any material things we can buy them.
When we divide our time into the essential, the important and the trivial it becomes clear where our time is best spent. Time is a gift given to us by God and a gift we can give to others.
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