Grace full mama

Well, last night I had a new experience. I can’t say that it was a particularly enjoyable one, or one that I am overly proud of. Somehow, I managed to have my foot slip out from under me while I went down the stairs last night. I very quickly toppled to my knees before skidding down the whole flight of stairs on my stomach like I was stair surfing. I’m completely fine. I have a few bruises and I scared the kids with all the kerfuffle, but there is no lasting damage.

It got me thinking, though, as I lay in bed last night.

I think that very often, if we aren’t careful, life can feel an awful like careening down those stairs on my belly. It’s fast, and painful, and you can’t make it stop.

The average person lives 27,000 days. I am really hoping that I get more than that, and I’m pretty hopeful considering all my grandparents seem to have incredible longevity. But nevertheless, our time is limited. If you had have asked me when I was 16, “how many days do you think you’ll have on this earth?” I probably would have answered “Oh I don’t know, around a million?” before I did a little bit of mental math and realised how wrong I was. That is what it feels like for a long time when we are young. I think it’s a bit of a trick of the enemy, to take us from feeling like we have unlimited time, and we just want it to go faster so we can get to the good stuff; to feeling panic that we have very little time left. Neither is peace. Both are a trap.

If you knew that you had 27,000 dollars, maybe a little more if you invested it wisely and accrued some interest, what would you do with it? Would you waste it? How much of it? How many trips to Mcdonalds would you make?

Have you heard the parable of the talents? It is a story Jesus told about a master who gave his servants different amounts of money to invest. To one servant, he gave five talents. He gave another two, and the last servant he gave one talent. The servants with five talents and two talents invest their money wisely and they both double it. The last servant decided that the master was not a good man and so buried his money.

Perhaps, our talents are our time?

We have an enemy who comes to kill, steal, and destroy. He loves to steal our focus and distract us so that what time we have leaks out, impotent and useless. He knows that days on this earth are finite. So he fills us with guilt, shame, discouragement, offence and discontent. We become distracted by the screen in our hand and miss entire days of our children’s 27,000; because their days are finite too.

So how can we invest our talents wisely? How can we stop the headlong belly surf to the bottom of the stairs?

Proverbs 10:27a says “reverence for God adds hours to each day.” I believe this is where it starts. Get up a little bit earlier, and seize the day rather than sleeping it away. I know. It sounds harsh. But it is what God has told me and I sure love the fruit of it. Spend time with him first thing, doing whatever gets you close to him. I love to read and highlight away in my bible, then do a “pause” on John Eldredge’s pause app. Sometimes I will also write to God and listen for his answer in my prayer journal. But no two of us are the same. Do what works for you, but do it.

You don’t have time to be discouraged, focused on negative things, and distracted. You simply don’t have the time. You have 27,000 days… do you really want to waste them on that? There has been political upheaval and economic difficulties in every single generation. I’d wager even in every decade. It’s a lethal distraction. Give it very little of your precious time. Focus on what you do have control over. Focus on where your agency is. Your relationship with God. Your relationship with your spouse. Your relationship with your children. (While we are on that topic, if you are able, having a lot of kids is a pretty incredible investment of your time!) You get to decide where to spend your energy. What are you going to pursue? Who are you going to serve? Where is your impact going to be?

Fail to plan, and plan to fail, my friends.

If I had 27,000 I wouldn’t throw it away willy nilly and not pay attention to where it was going. I would want it to make an impact.

If I have this infinitesimal amount of time on the earth, I don’t want to be stingy with what I give every day. I don’t want to waste my time on petty fights with my husband. I want to love him extravagantly. I want to love my family so much that I look a little bit ridiculous. I want to choose to be positive. I don’t have time to focus on past mistakes, if I want to make my time right now count. I want to serve. I want to consider what it is that my impact is and run headlong in that direction.

God didn’t tell us to just survive our time on earth. He told us to run our race with endurance. That means without getting tired.

Consider your time. Consider your kid’s time. Every day matters.