Marking Time or Making it Count

Coffee, Calendar and Time

Marking Time or Making it Count

Time is a tool – not a couch. 

John F. Kennedy

I should have been in a good mood. It was a beautiful, spring Saturday. The sun was shining and the trees were beginning to bud. Soon they’d be green. I should have been in a good mood—but I wasn’t. After two years, nothing had changed and I was still living in a place I didn’t like.

The reason for the move is now unimportant. But the result was a relocation from a place I loved to a place four states away. I didn’t know anyone and the weather was too hot. It didn’t even matter God had been consulted in the decision. In fact, I blamed Him for being there, and subsequently my prayers were shallow and superficial.

So, on that beautiful Saturday as I ran an errand, my attitude was just as sour as ever. Coming over a small hill, I saw cars screeching to the side of the road and people scrambling out. Obviously, an accident had just happened. There was a smashed-up truck and a car on its side with the tires still spinning. Normally, I’d slow down, gawk at the scene, then be on my way. But something made me pull to the side of the road and run to see what happened.

People were yelling for emergency while others talked to the victims inside the truck. I was drawn to the car on its side. A young woman, obviously pregnant, was unconscious, half in and half out of the car window. There was blood coming from her nose, her chin rested on her chest, and her breathing was labored.

It was paralyzing to watch her breathing become slower and slower. “If I could just move her head back, she could breathe,” I thought. Immediately I reached through the window. But someone grabbed my arm and said, “wait for the paramedics.” So . . . I just stood there.

Emergency personnel were slow to arrive, and it was agonizing to wait. Suddenly, the woman’s body shuddered and her chest stopped moving. Instinctively I knew she’d taken her last breath.

When paramedics finally arrived and took over, they quickly called for an air ambulance. Still immobilized I watched them extract the young gal from the car and load her into the helicopter. Watching it fly away, I stood there long after it was out of sight.

Walking to my car my mind was numb and I completed my shopping in a fog. When I got to the check-out I burst into tears. The poor cashier was horrified and apologized. I could only nod and then all the way home I sobbed. Why had this affected me so deeply?

As my tears flowed, questions began to race through my mind. What if I had an accident? What guarantees did I have that I’d survive the next few minutes, let alone the next few years? With the abrupt rush of emotion my sour mood suddenly felt so trivial. The reality came down to this, "You do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes". (James 4:13-15)

The next day I heard on the news the young woman had died. And my whole outlook changed immediately. I engaged differently. Things I once ignored, took on new meaning. My life wasn’t different and neither was my location but the change was in me.

It all comes down to acceptance and contentment. Philippians 4:12-13 says: “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” Paul wrote this while he was imprisoned in a dungeon. And even in that position he found hope and strength through Jesus.

True contentment is not found only in easy circumstances but also in difficult ones. And it is a choice we make every day. We can let go of the need for control and stop insisting God give us a different life. Instead, we can keep our eyes on Him in our current circumstances, and trust Him. He is our example and He is our strength. Instead of focusing on what you are going through, look at where you are going. It is your choice to waste your time or make it count.