Recently, we had a guest speaker at church who talked about time, specifically, the present. He said some things that really struck me. The present is the moment God is working in. He’s already worked in the past, and will work in the future, but this is the moment when I can see His hand at work. In this moment, the destinies of everyone alive are being wrought. In this moment, God is changing me. I’m so often looking to the future. I plan for what I need to get done today, tomorrow, next week, in five years—and I’m not saying those plans are unimportant. We should be wise with our time, whilst holding our plans with an open hand. But the now is where God is at work and I miss that being so future-oriented. Live in the now. The now is when God is strengthening my soul and working out His calling in me.
The speaker also talked about how we have time for all God has called us to do. We always have enough time. I don’t know about you, but I am a woman of lists. Lists that never get finished. Lists of tasks I am always juggling, fighting to accomplish. And frankly, I never complete my list. Even if my goal is just to spend time with Jesus, take care of my kids, teach them, clean my house, and get everyone meals today (let alone work on my book). It never seems to happen. There’s always something that gives. I’m trying to learn better methods of organization and better shortcuts in the tasks themselves, but still, I think I will probably just add new tasks to my lists once I have space. We are a society of people who do too much.
My husband is currently reading a book about a man God called out of the Eskimos to reach his own people. He related one particular incident that brought me up short. This man loved to spend daily time with the Lord, but then at the same time, he was a member of the tribe and had duties—one of which was to hunt. One day, early on in his relationship with God, his mother told him she would need a rabbit from him that day. It was in winter and rabbits were scarce so the young man thought he wouldn’t have time to commune with God by the time he’d finished hunting down a rabbit. However, moments into his hunt, a rabbit presented itself to him on the path and remained still until the eskimo could get close enough to shoot the rabbit. This left him free to commune with God during his remaining time. He realized God had sent the rabbit. God had provided extra time so the eskimo could be with Him. And over and over this happened to the eskimo.
It was very convicting to hear this story. I don’t know if I have ever asked, or expected, God to smooth my daily tasks. I just slog my way through the mundane things, expecting them to eat up my time. But what if I asked God to speed my way through those things so that I had extra time to spend with Him and with my family? Maybe my to-do list wouldn’t be quite so impossible.
Then again, maybe my to-do list just includes some things that aren’t on God’s to-do list. I’ve found myself praying lately that God will provide supernatural wisdom to prioritize my list so that I can pitch all the things that aren’t on His, and supernatural flexibility so that I can reorder my day according to His plan. Because maybe, just maybe He wants to do something amazing in the now, and I’m missing what’s right under my nose because I’m so focused on my future tasks.
