Time

time

 ¹⁶making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil (Ephesians 5:16)

In my waking moments, I am pulled towards every direction. Every person, animal, activity seem to be calling out for me. Many a times, I do wish I could clone myself and accomplish more and please everyone, including myself. But alas, this is not the case. Then I got thinking about what the bible could teach me about time, reflect on his Word, pen my thoughts and apply his Words to my life.

Recently, a friend had asked for help in being a translator. We live in China and she does not speak mandarin. I do speak some mandarin and can get by with it so far.  She had bought items over the internet and the seller could only transact in mandarin. For one, it’s easy to just see what you like and click to buy even though the site is in mandarin. After all, a picture tells a thousand words. She had asked and so, I had kindly offered my help to be the point of contact for the seller in communications regarding delivery matters. I had highlighted to her my response time would occasionally be delayed when as I needed to care for my 2 year old son and I don’t always carry my phone around. She agreed and said she understood. I started receiving a myriad of calls from sellers and delivery companies asking for information, and timing of delivery. I had no clue what she had bought and what transpired as a simple act of kindness turned into a nightmare. I had become a part time secretary overnight. I had to pick up calls at ungodly hours, arrange with her and get back to them. Should issues arise, I also had to help resolve them and provide solutions to both buyer and sellers. In my 10 months shopping online in China, I never had encounter such problems.

Then, I found out that when she could not reach me, she would contact other friends and this resulted in duplication of efforts and mixed messages to the seller. It became frustrating for me as I had to constantly take time out from the kids to handle those calls. For a while, I tried being optimistic, telling myself to take this as a challenge in improving my mandarin. But deep down, there’s this nagging feeling that says something is not right. Time is so precious to me and what I do has to be worth it.

Today. I decided to look to the Bible. I looked into Ephesians 5:16 and also read Matthew Henry's commentaries for insights. ¹⁶making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil”.

Our time here is short; every moment is an opportunity cost. (I just lost 3 minutes taking a call for that friend instead of writing this post, sharing about God’s word). Why? More often than not, it’s the urgent things that are always pulling us away from the important things. The important things wait quietly and patiently in the background until it can no longer do so and it becomes too late and regrets sets in for us.

How then should we make good use of our time when situations like these arises?

Learn to say NO. In Matthew Henry’s commentaries, he says "Our time is a talent given us by God for some good end, and it is misspent and lost when it is not employed according to his design. If we have lost our time heretofore, we must endeavour to redeem it by doubling our diligence in doing our duty for the future.” All the time I spent taking those calls and getting frustrated in front of my children needs to be fixed with twice the effort now. I had to explain why I was taking those calls and why sometimes I had to be loud on the phone. I had to spend time calming down myself whenever those calls came in with problems while my friend was at the gym working out; unbothered by these problems that she had given me. I thank God that this lesson is not a long drawn out one and that it has made me realize how time should be used. Wisely. Going forward, I shall take time to pray and ask if what I embark will please Him. Taking time to pray and plan will help in the long run. It is never too late to say NO to an activity or an urgent task. In fact, I shall inform my friend tomorrow that I will be unavailable to assist her in her shopping matters in future. What might happen? Lose a friend? Maybe, maybe not.

I ask myself, what if the situation was turned around. What should I do? Be sincere, honest, helpful and appreciative. Don’t take people and their time for granted. This also teaches me to value other’s time and be respectful of their time.

I shall end my note with this: Take good care of time and use it wisely to glorify God. Have courage to say NO.