It’s time to . . .

It’s time to write a blog. Have you noticed how many times you say, “It’s time to . . .”? It’s time to get up . . . time to eat . . . time to read my Bible and pray (don’t forget that!). I could go on and on: it’s time to brush my teeth . . . time to exercise (getting back to that now) . . . time to eat again . . . and again . . . time to feed the puppy (new addition to the family) . . . and time to let the pup outside . . . and time to go to bed. Then I start the process over again the next day.

Time is important and essential to daily habits. It’s not a bad thing to regulate my time. I need that clock at times to discipline me. Without a time keeper, I’d not keep up with what’s next in my day. Now sometimes I don’t need a clock to tell me it’s time for lunch. I feel the rumbles in my tummy, as Pooh Bear would say. And often (perhaps it’s old age) I don’t need someone to say it’s time to go to bed. But too often these days I need to be nudged out of bed in the morning.

When we went to Hyderabad, India, to help with reconstruction, the leaders at the camp found out that our group included two preachers. They decided it’s time for an evangelistic service. They pitched a tent and moved chairs inside along with a platform. I don’t know how word got around and into the village, but somehow people knew and began to gather for the preaching, some of them bringing their home-made musical instruments. It wasn’t a matter of looking at a clock and knowing it’s time; it just happened. And as to quitting time, that’s whenever they wanted it. This was no ordinary one-hour service.

So while we judge most of what we do by the clock – when it’s time to do this or that, we can include in our daily habits a time to be quiet, listen, converse, and enjoy life – each other, nature, and how God has designed a regular schedule into His creation: “And God saw that it was good. Evening came and then morning: the third day” (Gen. 1:12, 13). Take time to thank God for time.