It's About Time

Time is a strange substance for us. We measure it in nanoseconds and eons. We schedule our lives around it. We feel pushed when it gets away from us.

My normal operating speed is about 8 minutes late. I'm not sure how that developed but if you look at your clock, I will probably arrive about 8 minutes later than I said. I must say that I am getting much better at that as I get older and don't cram my schedule so full.

I have been thinking lately about how God orders our lives through time. It is such a blessing to be in the right place at just the right time. It is nice to see the perfect sunset and not to have missed it. It is nice to catch a baby smiling in his sleep. So many wondrous things happen around us every day. It takes more than just being in the right place. We also have to be there at the right time to be able to see the blessing.

In my area, there are several railroad crossings. Most of the time, I get through the crossings with no train in sight. However, there are days when the gates are down and the train seems to take forever to go on by. Of course, those are the days when I really need to be someplace on time. I could say I am at the wrong place at the wrong time. My thoughts wander--Is God keeping me from some disaster? What would I have missed if the train was not there? Then my mind shifts to all the graffiti on the boxcars and I think of how the talents of the artists could be used in better ways. As the gates rise, I am happy that God orders my life and that He kept me from something much worse.

But what of the times it doesn't work out so well--times we cry out, "How could God let this happen?" Truly there are circumstances where disaster absolutely falls on people. Freak accidents occur. We all know of someone who has died because he or she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

As time-bound creatures, we get so caught up with moment-to-moment time that we forget all about the big picture that God sees. I sometimes look at the circumstances around me to try to determine what God is doing in my life today. Did God have the train at the crossing so that I would miss the soup of the day at the restaurant and have to get the meatloaf instead? You know exactly what I mean.

Today I am looking at it from another perspective. God's Word promises, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord." (Psalm 37:23) and "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path." (Proverbs 3:5-6) From God's point of view, He is leading me to His goal in the long term. It may be 20 years of moving day by day and step by step before I am able to see how He has directed my life. It can be centuries of generations of people living their lives before humanity gets where He wants us to be. Today I need to stop judging whether I am in the right place at the right time or the wrong place at the wrong time. I need to quit stressing over which steps to take. Today I will trust the Lord and believe His word. I can look down at my feet and see that they are exactly where the Lord wants them to be today. He is bringing me from glory to glory in His perfect timing.

I think I get it now. Lord, are you whispering to me today, "It's about time!"?