Take Time To Be Holy

Making use of spare time is sometimes mind boggling. After all, there are so many things that could be done. So many projects that should get done and so many things that may never get finished. At times in the relaxed nature of this past summer I have found myself wondering what to do with myself. It’s quiet around here most of the time. This doesn’t mean we have given up our regular routines. It only means our lives are changing again. We look at things differently and we place importance on other things.
The different stages of life bring challenges in regards to time. I watch the teens who sleep until noon suddenly come alive when the sun goes down. When school starts, they have to reprogram their minds and bodies to respond to a different set of rules and expectations. Recently I noticed a young mother dealing with the sleeping habits of a toddler. She can’t wait until the child sleep, “like any normal person.” Been there, done that and don’t want to do it again.
Stretching my own memory takes me back to the time when time was something we manipulated. We made it fit our schedule or we made our schedule control our time. Night shifts are not fun. There were calls to be somewhere right now. Forget what you are doing and come. Forget about 8hrs sleep, just do it. This also meant we endeavoured to make things happen or make it work. Some even thrived on it.
There were and are times when we have to make the most of the time we have. It was August 1980. A local Saskatchewan farmer who attended the church needed some help. Previously I had given him a hand with this or that. But for this city folk, the jobs were trivial and didn’t take much time. That was until he asked for my help with the harvest. Ten minutes instruction on a Massey 24 and I was combining. It meant I had to be up and at the farm by seven. By 10:00 a.m. we were on the field. He trucked the grain to the bins in the yard and I kept going. Load after load, hour after hour. Soon it was 1:00 a.m. and we had to stop because the grain was getting tough. Get some sleep because seven a.m. comes mighty early.
Those days, for many of us are gone. We have spare time now. Time has a different meaning to each of us. We still make time for family and friends. There is time to give a weak hand to someone else and there is time to sit and just spend time with yourself.
I found this rare pleasure of late. Maybe it was the summer or maybe it’s my age. On numerous occasions I have found myself sitting and doing nothing. The spare time jobs seemed unimportant. What was important was sitting with my thoughts and enjoying the experience.
Life has shown there is something more in sitting on the deck watching the migrating monarch butterflies. Spare time has something beyond relaxing on the front porch watching the world go by. In those moments, my mind, like yours, goes back to situations, circumstances, people, places. There are the laughing moments, exciting times and some memories we play back only to realize how far we have come.
Mornings come early for me now. Often the numbers on the clock are short of five. In those moments I have the wonderful opportunity to talk with God. For some reason, He wakes me before the sun comes up or the appointments of the day start dictating my time. Lying there in the quietness that only the morning brings, we talk. Uncluttered time with Him. I thank Him for coming in and waking me. I thank Him for caring for all of us. I ask Him what it must have been like when it was just Him and Adam in the garden. We talk about you and how He can give you a hand today. In those moments I have discovered spare moments with Him are amazing. Just like Him. Have you had your moment alone with God today?
Rob