A Time For Everything

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven” —Ecclesiastes 3:1, NIV.

As Spring awakens once more, I eagerly look forward to getting the balcony set up for warmer weather. I didn’t do very well with flowers last year. Being on the road frequently and not being around to water and tend didn’t do them much good. It was really hot last summer—unusual for this part of the world. If we are blessed with more normal temperatures this time around I may be able to go away and not come back to shriveled up greenery.

We could still have a bit of winter left in us, but I have already rummaged through the storage locker and brought out a couple of pieces of balcony furniture. Before Abby and Lou get out there, I have to install some fencing in front of the balcony rail to prevent them from slipping through the bars and taking an unexpected tumble onto the ground below. I don’t want to find out if cats really can land on their feet and survive after a four storey fall!

Time for everything. Time for Spring and getting ready for it. Time to stop and smell the flowers—when they get planted. Time to work, time to play and time to take stock. There is time, God says, for everything.

So why does it seems like there isn’t enough time?

Perhaps that’s where the “taking stock” comes in. If there really is time for everything and I don’t have time for everything, then there must be something about my “everything” that doesn’t need to be done at all. Some part of that “everything” that really isn’t part of God’s plan for me. Some things are non-negotiable, like time spent in prayer and the study of God’s Word. Most of us have to work to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table. But there are lots of optional things, some perfectly legitimate, that take our time, but aren’t part of God’s great plan to conform us into His image and to make us reflecting pools of His grace to the world around us.

In the Spring we take stock of what needs to happen in the garden so that we can enjoy a Summer full of beauty. Perhaps it is now, in Spring, that we need to take stock of what needs to happen in our lives so that we can enjoy time that is used to it’s best advantage—that of bringing maximum glory to God.