A Pause in Time | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: A Pause in Time | Previous Challenge Entry
By Edmond Ng
11/18/12
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There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven— (Ecclesiastes 3:1 NAS)I am always not getting enough time to do the things I am supposed to do for the house. Having to work five days a week as an employee, I am almost always exhausted by the end of the day coming home. Saturday mornings are taken up by the need to run errands or follow up at the clinics, leaving the afternoons for visitations, household repairs and maintenance, or the updating and housekeeping of my blogs and websites. Sunday mornings are spent in church and the afternoons writing devotions for a writing challenge and a Christian blog.

Many of us, like me, are probably finding it hard to have sufficient time to do the needful as well as the necessary. Once in a while when something out of the usual demands our time away from our routines, we may think of it as disrupting our schedules for a good reason or for no good reason. At the end of the day, we may feel distressed or unhappy, having to rush to catch up with what we should have been doing. Perhaps it is someone in need that we have to give our time and go the extra mile to help or a friend who is trying to catch up with us. Are we always too busy to have the time to spare?

Some years ago in a seminar I attended, a video was shown with a voice over that said, "Time waits for no man, but man waits all the time. People were told to wait another six months for a solution ... The wait is over, the time is now ..." Obviously, what was being said in the video was targeted at getting the audience to make a purchase. Yet, there is some truth in the statement about timing.

Jesus said, “Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest '? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest” (John 4:35). We know the length of our lives is determined by God and the number of months we live have been decreed, set with a limit no one can exceed (Job 14:5). It is clear there is an appointed time for everything and every event under heaven (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Yet we must be wise to know the appropriate time to do what we are supposed to do and the time to do what is most important.

When we encounter disruptions in our routines, be aware that such interruptions may mean we should pause for the moment to deal with more important things. Never think of interruptions as spoiling our plans or upsetting our schedules. Remember, time well spent with the Lord and with the people God placed around us—including the time given to help a friend or a stranger—is worth its weight in gold (Matthew 25:34-36).

Dear Lord, teach us to number our days that we may present to You a heart of wisdom. Grant us Lord to know how to differentiate the things we are supposed to do from the things that have to be done. Help us not turn away people who need our help or want to catch up with in our busyness. Slow us down whenever necessary Lord that we may pause to listen to the voice of Your Holy Spirit, and do what is right, according to Your will.

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