August 2021 Reflections on Time and Grace

Do I need your forgiveness?

Time has long been a mystery to me.  I don’t “manage” it well – but then that is in itself a misnomer. We don’t manage time – we manage ourselves with regard to time, some of us better than others.

Yet whether one is skilled or unskilled with our approach to time, it is interesting to note how often we measure and describe things with a reference to time – time as we humans know it. Watch as you read the rest of this – references to time are liberally sprinkled throughout, even though I tried (once they kept jumping out at me) to minimize them.

There are times when seconds do count, and when one is faced with medical situations with medication and equipment providing lifesaving helps, it can be a dramatic reminder.

But long ago I concluded that God isn’t concerned about time the way we are, especially we busy Americans.

Of course there are the scriptures, such as 2 Peter 3:8, where Peter comments that a thousand years is like a day to the Lord.  In addition to that, however, we’ve all experienced waiting for a long time for a prayer to be answered in our own lives and the lives of those we love. Or for injustices to be righted for the innocent, causes we know God cares about. It can be baffling or upsetting.

Yet we know He loves us, guides and directs us, and at least in my case, often saves me from myself. There are elements of time involved in all of that.

Too much of the time I just proceed without being totally aware of how He is truly in control of events that occur.

I make my plans, commit in great detail to schedules, contracts and itineraries, and make promises to other people accordingly.

But then sometimes I discover it doesn’t work out that way.

Our dear African friends and adopted family members Joshua and Victoria Baah-Binney are quick to say, “if the Lord allows…” before discussing plans. That’s scriptural too.

To be honest, I used to find it kind of quaint that in their Ghanaian Christian culture they “still” said that.

But I’ve been reminded rather abruptly the past few weeks that God is in control of my life and time, not me.

Hence today’s epistle.

I think I’ve mentioned that my husband and I are relocating to move closer to family. We thought we knew how that timetable was going to go. Nope, unusual real estate market, need to reverse some plans….so we did. It meant we had to accelerate some things rather drastically. We didn’t find any more hours in the day however so were surprised to discover we couldn’t get it all done. I ended up delaying some work, and having to beg forgiveness and seek grace.

Then, we pushed ourselves a bit too hard to meet some house sale preparation deadlines, but succeeded in getting the house listed and shown, and a few days later accepted a contract from someone who wants to buy it. However, then other realities set in.

My husband ended up in the hospital.

So, instead of being at the Christian Product Expo that I wrote about last week, someone else on my team had to cover most of my responsibilities while I stayed with my husband in another state and still tried to make sure things were taken care of in Missouri. Buoyancy PR was well represented and the authors benefitted from their time there. Although I knew I made the right decision, I felt I had let people down.

Now that scary time is past, my husband is fine and really better than ever, but then came the next phase of getting back in the swing of things. I needed some transition and rest time, and had not really planned on that.

All of which brings me to today.

I’m working to get back up to snuff on things, but finding time escaping, again, and my thought for today is about God and time and how He is seemingly less worried about it than me.

So while I’m doing my best to make up for lost time – how ridiculous that sounds to my ears today – I’m leaning on God’s grace and the forgiveness of some of you who may be reading this.

I consider one of the blessings of this time to be a new awareness and a bit more wisdom about time, its limits and importance.