Time Is Tickin’

Do you remember the old DC Talk song ‘Time is’?

Time is tickin’, it keeps on tickin’
Time is tickin’ away

It’s an encouragement in good ol’ 90’s Christian rap fashion to not waste our time, but use it for God’s purposes. The song came to mind when I was talking to my Mum about the book she is reading: I Was Busy Now I’m Not: Changing the Way You Think About Time by Joseph Peck.

I’ve not read it yet, so this isn’t a review, but I’d like to, as soon as Mum’s finished it.

I’ve been very busy in the last five months, planning my wedding (thank you for your congratulations) and wish I’d heard about this book before. I have tried to involve God in the planning, and my fiancé and I have been really blessed by help, loans of crafting materials and cars and lots of good things, but I’ve still felt like my life was driven by making this wedding happen. I think it has even gotten in the way of my time with God – it’s been all-consuming.

Mum was telling me about a part of this book, which advises you to include one question to God in your day, at the start:

“What is the one thing I can do today to make all my other tasks easier, or unnecessary?”

In my Mum’s experience the answer has been as practical as ‘don’t do this one task which will be time consuming and isn’t urgent’, or simply ‘let other people help you’.

It’s so simple when you think about it, isn’t it? For all the talking to God I do, how often do I let Him just drop a little insight into my life, to affect my day-to-day?

‘Rarely’, is the answer (for me, anyway, at the moment).

What I find most challenging about the question is the ‘make my other tasks unnecessary’ bit. How often do I do things which are unnecessary? Or do things a certain way out of routine when there is a more efficient way? Or even do tasks because I’ve taken on a responsibility which isn’t mine?

‘Often’, is the answer here, for me.

I will read the book, to get the full context of this piece of advice, but until I can snag it from Mum, I’d like to adopt this question as part of my daily routine. I’m curious to see what I can trim from my life (probably some Netflix time), and I’m excited to remember to allow God to be part of my day-to-day, and benefit from his infinite wisdom!

I love this reminder that God cares about how we spend our time and energy, it’s an aspect of His love for us. Of course, the follow-up question will be “What do I do with the time I’ve saved?” but that will have to wait for another blog.