When I get to the airport with little time to spare, it seems I have to wait longer for a shuttle and shuffle slowly through the security line. When I get to the airport with plenty of time to spare, it seems I have hardly no wait times at all. During a recent trip, I even got to watch the Flintstones while waiting at my gate (and of course, multi-tasking some work tasks).
I’ve experienced time flying by and time standing still. I imagine you can relate. Even though every minute contains 60 seconds, every hour contains 60 minutes and every day contains 24 hours, I’m convinced all time is not created equally. I’ve arrived on time when I expected to arrive late (and I wasn’t speeding…this time). Something that should have taken 10 minutes has taken me 30 even when I was staying on task. Time might be objectively measurable, but it’s subjectively experienced.
I used to say I was good at time management, but I’m not sure that’s accurate. I balance what needs to get done. It’s not the time I manage well but the tasks within that time.
I hear and see many comments indicating there’s not enough time in the day to accomplish what needs to get done, but it’s a deception we accept as reality. The truth is there’s exactly enough time in the day. There’s exactly enough time in a season. There’s exactly enough time in life.
There’s an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth:
A right time for birth and another for death,
A right time to plant and another to reap,
A right time to kill and another to heal,
A right time to destroy and another to construct,
A right time to cry and another to laugh,
A right time to lament and another to cheer,
A right time to make love and another to abstain,
A right time to embrace and another to part,
A right time to search and another to count your losses,
A right time to hold on and another to let go,
A right time to rip out and another to mend,
A right time to shut up and another to speak up,
A right time to love and another to hate,
A right time to wage war and another to make peace. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, The Message)
As I’ve struggled with time (I certainly haven’t overcome the struggle yet!), I’ve realized it’s not a time management issue. It’s an obedience issue. It’s a submission issue. To be honest, I’m not big enough to manage time. God does that. I can steward the time he gives me, and the way I do that is listening to him and being obedient. That means I can’t map everything out. I have to let him guide my organization but also be flexible, because he will not keep me inside my pretty color-coded boxes. My role in time management is not control but yielding. As I accept God’s sovereignty, I acknowledge he knows what he’s doing. I trust him to guide me. I seek him and listen to him, responding in obedience in his perfect timing. I don’t race ahead and I don’t lag behind.
God’s time isn’t my time. My time is God’s time.
So, I try not to fit too many tasks in too little time. I try not to stress about something taking less or more time than expected. I try to write in pencil, because I know God will make adjustments. He guides. I respond. He fine-tunes. I adjust. That’s what relationship is all about.
It’s not my time. It’s my relationship with God.