… redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:16
When Katie Davis graduated from high school in America and volunteered to teach kindergarten in Uganda, she didn’t know she would one day become mother to 13 orphaned girls and teacher and provider for hundreds more. In her book Kisses from Katie, she describes what seems at times to be an overwhelming task – and her solution” “I began each day saying, ‘Okay Lord, what would you have me do today? . . . I was walking through life one moment at a time, blown away by what God could do through me if I simply said yes.”
God has given us an eternal perspective so that we can look beyond the routines of life. Nevertheless, God has not revealed all of life’s mysteries. In Ecclesiastes 3:11, Solomon writes, “God has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in our hearts, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.” Perhaps to prevent us from becoming discouraged if we viewed too much too soon, so that we develop trust in His GPS to deliver exactly the resources we need just-in-time from His supply chains to accomplish His purposes.
Now getting older with limited energy, while considering the tasks of the day, to be honest, there are days I want to forget it all and crawl back into bed, but a small voice inside me says, “Merlin, you don’t have to do it all at once. Just put your feet on the floor and take the first step.” Usually the evening before, I’d already determined the most efficient order in which to tackle the tasks listed on my 3×5 card. So, all I have to do is execute the plan. First step though, even before checking the card, is always a time of alignment, communion and calibrating my spiritual GPS. Then I’m ready to hit the drive button!
Ideally, the best way to make the most of a life given as a gift from God is to make the most of today. God doesn’t expect us to plan for the entire future – just today. Consider how much good can be accomplished in just one day in the lives of the people God puts in our path TODAY!
When Paul wrote, “. . . redeeming the time,” he was talking about today, tomorrow, the day after – one day at a time. Why the focus on today? Because a day not redeemed is a day gone forever. And because a life is nothing more but a collection of days! Really!
Inspired and adapted from David Jeremiah’s devotional “Destinations: Your Journey with God” and Emilie Barnes “Minute Meditations For Women.”