Someone May Be Waiting

A few years ago, I was invited to a holiday meal with a friend.  Holidays can be lonely times for many, so when my friend asked, I was thrilled to say “yes”.  It was a lovely time.

As the evening grew closer, I thought, perhaps, it was time for me to go, so as not to overstay my welcome, even though I really wanted to stay and chat. Then, as I suggested it was time for me to go, I was encouraged to stay longer.  That was an invitation that brought warmth to my heart and a tear to my eye. I wasn't merely being permitted to stay. Someone wanted me to stay. I accepted the invitation and couldn’t have been more touched.

We talk about time constantly.

We save time. We waste time. We make time. We run out of time. We promise ourselves we'll find time when things settle down.

But there is something strange about the way we talk about time: we speak as though it is something we can store away and use later.  We speak as though it belongs to us.

We can’t and it doesn't.

Time belongs to God.

He gives it to us one day, one hour, one moment at a time. We can ask Him for more of it. We can pray for another day with someone we love. We can wish desperately that the clock would slow down.

But ultimately, God determines how much time each of us will have.

What He leaves to us is the choice of how we will use it.

Money spent can be earned again. Something broken can often be repaired or replaced. Plans can be changed. Even some missed opportunities come around a second time.

Time doesn't.

An hour that passes is gone. We will never own that particular hour again.

Perhaps that is why giving someone our time is one of the most meaningful gifts we can offer.

When we stop what we're doing and sit with another person, listen to them, share a meal, make a phone call, or simply allow ourselves to be fully present, we are giving them a small piece of something finite—our life.

And whether we realize it or not, our willingness to make time communicates something.

You matter.

You matter enough for me to stop.

You matter enough for me to listen.

You matter enough for me to make room.

Of course, life is busy. Sometimes extraordinarily so. There are jobs to do, people who depend on us, families to care for, appointments to keep, problems to solve, and responsibilities that simply cannot be ignored.

And perhaps that is precisely why making time for someone means so much.

It usually isn't because we suddenly discovered an empty hour with nothing else competing for it. Most of the time, making time means choosing where one hour among many responsibilities will go.

There will always be reasons to wait.

When things settle down.

After I get through this week.

When work isn't quite so demanding.

When life gets back to normal.

But life has an interesting habit of replacing one demand with another. The perfectly convenient time may never arrive.

Meanwhile, days become weeks. Weeks become months. And without intending to, we can lose time with people who matter to us, as well as the time we gift to those who pray for our time with them, simply because we assumed there would always be more of it.

But perhaps there is another question Christians should ask ourselves:

Are we listening to God when He nudges us about how to use the time He has given us?

Or are we so busy deciding what deserves our time that we fail to notice when He may be putting someone in front of us who needs some of it?

Jesus showed us repeatedly that people were worth stopping for.

He stopped for the person who needed healing. He stopped for the person everyone else overlooked. He sat at tables. He listened. He taught. He prayed. He spent time with His friends.

And He did all of this knowing better than anyone that His earthly time was limited.

Maybe there is something for us to learn from that.

Think about a friend today.

Has someone been asking for a little of your time…maybe to talk about something that matters to them and you have decided…not now, or soon?

Is there someone you sense needs you—not something you can buy for them, fix for them, or accomplish for them, but simply you?

Perhaps that quiet thought that keeps returning isn't an interruption at all.

Perhaps it is God asking us to pay attention.

Most of us have people we would give almost anything to sit beside for one more hour. One more conversation. One more meal. One more chance to hear their laugh or tell them something we thought we would have plenty of time to say.

I know I do.

If you were to know which hour would be your last one, would you treat it differently?

But that's the problem.

We almost never know.

We cannot reclaim those hours.

But we can pay attention to the ones God is giving us now.  We can choose to pay attention to the people who matter.

God determines how much time we receive.  We decide what we do with it.

And perhaps, when our time here is finished and we stand before Him, some of the choices that mattered most will be the simplest ones:

The times we stopped.

The times we listened.

The times we loved.

The times we chose to be there.

So perhaps the lesson isn't that we should live anxiously, afraid that time is running out. Maybe it is much simpler than that.

Pay attention to the people who matter.  Make time for friends who need a little of your time.  The older we get, the “time runway” becomes shorter and every minute, every hour, every day, every month and year becomes more precious.

As Jesus said in ‘The Chosen’, “If we don’t make time for friends, we won’t have any”.

So, make the phone call.

So, have the conversation.

Perhaps, sit a little longer.

Take the time to listen when someone needs to be heard.

And every once in a while, choose the person instead of the next thing on the list.

Because someday we may discover that the hour we thought we were giving away was never really lost at all.

It became part of someone’s life.

As I said earlier, Jesus owns time. He gives it and he takes it. We can pray for more of it, but he makes the ultimate decision as to how much we have and allows us the choice of how to spend it.

Are we listening to Him when he encourages us to use our time wisely or do we believe we know better? Think about a friend today. Have they asked you for time? Do you sense they need a little of your time?

Life is time and life is choices. How we use both will be our reward in heaven.