Use Your Time Wisely

Today at church our priest, Father Art, delivered a homily about time. Normally, while I try to listen, I'm often distracted by a very active baby who at the point of the homily has already been told to sit still for twenty minutes, which of course is an eternity for an almost 18 month toddler. Today, however, when it came time for Father's sermon, Preston was busily engrossed with his feet (he loves taking off his shoes and socks) and I was able to catch most of what Father had to say. It really spoke to me, so I felt compelled to share it with everyone else . . . in my own words and thoughts, of course.

Patience is a virtue, right? Actually, more accurately it is a learned skill and a lost art. We live in a society that is constantly developing new and faster ways to do things. We race from stop light to stop light or pass one car in traffic only to get stopped by the next in line. We buy things we don't need and can't afford simply because we can't wait, so we just pay with credit cards. We tap our foot when we are told we have to wait in line and even fast food can't come fast enough. What is our hurry??? The faster we move, the faster we want to move and thus we are caught in a vicious flurry. I know I'm just as guilty. I know I've tapped my foot on numerous occations when my kids don't seem to be moving quick enough for me. I know that I've gotten annoyed on more than one occasion when I was asked to wait a few extra minutes for that meal at the restaurant. And I know that I swear a lot at my computer because my dial-up is just taking too long to load up these photos. We have been culturally programmed to see waiting for anything as an inconvenience instead of what it is . . . an opportunity. But that is what it is. As I sat in church listening to Father Art speak about this very same topic, I was hit with what I can only call a patience epiphany. Maybe all this waiting is exactly what God intended. Maybe the traffic jam on the way to work, the line at the bank, or the few extra minutes in the waiting room of the doctor's office aren't the time wasters we've been led to believe. They are opportunities that the Lord has sent to us to add a few moments of extra prayer into our lives. I know that the majority of my prayers are saved for the evening, just prior to bed, when I'm thoroughly exhausted and my brain is barely working. So why not use those moments throughout the day to put my patience to work for me? We need to reverse our way of thinking. It's in those moments that I can say a small "thank you" prayer to the Lord for all the blessings in my life. Instead of getting frustrated with my kids for not getting their shoes on, I can say a "thank you, Lord" for my healthy kids and their ability to walk on two feet. Instead of getting angry that we had to wait for our food, I can say a "thank you, Lord" that we can afford to eat out and that I don't have to cook the meal (or do the dishes.) And when I curse at my computer for not loading quickly enough, I should definitely say a "thank you, Lord" for the ability to communicate in an instant over such long distances with those we miss and love. The Lord always has time for us and if we look closely at our lives I'm sure we can find many missed opportunities to make a little extra time for Him.