cheekysharon.

Today I had an appointment at the UCI Student Health center to get a recommended immunization. My appointment was at 9:15 but I didn’t leave my house until 8:55 because I took a bit too long getting ready and packing for the day.

With my eye jumping back and forth from the road to the digital clock of my car, I was so afraid I was going to miss my appointment. Being late would mean I would miss my appointment. Missing my appointment meant I would possibly have to pay an appointment-cancelling fee. My heart seriously pounded as I saw each minute draw closer and closer to my appointment time. 9:08, 9:12, 9:13. I stared intently at the time at every stop light, holding my breath that another minute wouldn’t pass by. I changed lanes frequently to dodge the slower cars ahead of me. I gripped tightly to my steering wheel praying that by some miracle, time would slow down for me as I waited stop sign by stop sign, signal by signal. A huge truck was rolling ever-so-slowly in front of me, and lo and behold, it pulled into the same parking lot I did. “Goooooooo hurrrry!!!!!!” I maneuvered around it and parked at the nearest empty parking spot.

9:14. I ran out of my car. Got to the self-check in window.

Yowch. Please let me innnnn!

…I ended up not getting the immunization because it was a three-part, $41 each shot that I didn’t really need. I took a deep breath out and walked out of the health center.

Time is such a funny thing!

When we’re sitting in a movie theater waiting for the show to start, 15 minutes til showtime seems such a short wait. When we’re sitting at a coffee shop studying for a midterm we have in three hours, the time flies by so quickly we barely catch enough time to take a bathroom break before we head out for our test. This past year seemed to have zoomed by as each day and each month was filled with to-do’s, deadlines, scheduled appointments and weekly exams and papers that filled my mind. When we’re not mindful of the time, our whole day, week and life will pass us by. Time is a limited thing. Fixed in a certain ‘time’-frame and we, as people, don’t have it in unlimited abundance. Our time is short. There is a brevity to this life we live.

I really almost felt that time had somehow slowed down for me today. From 8:55 to 9:15, I watched almost every single minute pass by on my clock. There almost seemed to be a simaltaneous heart beat with each dramatic minute that passed by. Time seemed to go by more slowly because I was so much more aware of how much (or— how little) time I had.

How great a temptation it is for us to waste time with frivilous things. We either fill our days with unproductive things, or leave it so empty that we end up not using it fruitfully at all! Day-by-day, year-by-year, we see time pass us by and we fail to do anything productive with our lives.

As Christians, God has given us a new life- and in that, a new purpose. For the little time that we have here on earth before our Eternity with God in Heaven, we have sooo much to do! So many things to share, so many people to reach out to, so many ministries to be faithful to…but so often I see myself filling my life with things that are not instrumental for God’s Kingdom. I watch too many movies, spend too much time on the internet, watch too many youtube videos, read too many things that are unhelpful for me in every way.

I realize that we need to be deliberate, even to an extreme measure. It’s the day to day decisions that make up our life. We need to be more aware of how little time we have, so that we are careful to be more intentional and more purposeful in the way we live.

—-

CJ Mahaney had a series on Biblical Productivity. I found it amazingly helpful in re-sharpening my perspective on what it means to be productive. Here is my favorite part:

• Busyness does not mean I am diligent
• Busyness does not mean I am faithful
• Busyness does not mean I am fruitful

So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom
psalm 90:12

Give thanks- the gift of time, the Lord of our time