We are a time-conscious people. We think about time. We talk about time. We worry about time. We are continuously watching the clock.

I waited and waited and waited for my friend to arrive. When he fi nally came, I said, “It’s about time!” Number One Kid announced at the breakfast table, “I think I’ll clean up my room today.” To which Mom replied, “It’s about time!”

Remember when you proudly announced to the family that you were getting married? How they all chimed in together, “It’s about time!” Life as all about time - how we use it and how we mis-use it!

Time is a creation of God!In the beginning, God saw nothing but chaos and darkness. God spoke! Brought order out of chaos and light instead of darkness. “And there was day and there was night - one day of time. Only God can create time; we can only rearrange time. We are powerless to add even one second of time to the day.

Time is a treasured gift from God! God gives us this gift one day at a time; so as not to overwhelm us or overload us. As with any gift, the important thing is how well we receive it; are we always grateful for this gift, or do we take it for granted, as if we were entitled to it? As with any gift, do we treasure it, and use it wisely and well?

Time it tricky! Two hours waiting in the doctor’s o◊ce seem like a long time. Two hours waiting in line to seea Cardinal’s game is a short time. Thirty minutes to dad and mom is a short time. Thirty minutes to a fouryear-old seems like an eternity.

We talk a lot about time! There’s “Not enough” time. Really! Every person on this earth has the same amount of time to spend. The rich and the poor have the same amount of time. So do men and women and children.

It makes no difference what country one calls home, we all have the same 24 hours every day. “Not enough” time? What we really mean is that we’ve planned too many projects for the time we’re allowed. Let’s set some priorities. Some things must be done today. Some can wait until tomorrow and some things can, just as easily, be done next month. If we try to do itall in a single day, we’ll only get frustrated and angry and upset.

“Wasted” time! This is time spent/used unwisely or uselessly with no purpose in mind. Mother Teresa said, “Time spent loving people and caring for others is never wasted.” Jesus says, “Time spent loving God and caring for your neighbor is not wasted.” However, time spend or used to satisfy self is “wasted time.” Time spent being greedy, or jealous, or hateful, or unforgiving is always a waste of our time.

“Borrowed” time! We’ve heard it said, “He’s living on borrowed time.” Fact is, that’s not possible. We do try to borrow time from our past. “If only I could go back and re-live or re-do my past…” We also try to borrow time from our future. “I’m afraid to do this or that becauseI don’t know what might happen…” George Harrison was right. “All there is, is now!” We can gain experience from the past - but we can’t re-live it. We can hop for the future, but we don’t know for sure if there will be one.

“Savings” time! Spring forward - Fall back. Daylight Saving Time. Question is, what are we saving the time for? If we could take an hour from a normal day and put it in our Savings Account, we’d have a whole extra day every month to spend. What would we do with it? Would it bring us closer to God? Would it make us more loving and caring persons? Or, would our extra day we just like all our other days: working harder; making more money; worrying more; satisfying self; growing more weary of life?

God’s time is different from our time! A thousand years of our time is equal to a thousand years of Godtime. Yet, God always allows things to happen “at the right time!” When the time was “right,” Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

The Jewish people were expecting the Messiah at any moment. The Romans had made to safe to travel anywhere in the world. People in every nation could speak a common language, Greek. And even the stars and planets were perfectly aligned to form the Bethlehem star!

Remember, when we turn to God in prayer - that God is constantly working to answer our prayers in the best possible way and at the best possible time! It’s all about time: a treasured gift from God!

Religion, Pages 11 on 11/08/2012