About Time

I have been thinking a lot about the subject of 'time' recently.  Undoubtedly time is a most precious commodity, and how easy it can be to waste it!  If you want to understand the things which are priorities in a person's life, a good way is to examine how they use their time.

I am now entering the second month of my three month sabbatical.  Most of the first month was taken up with a wonderful trip to visit family in New Zealand, spending a few days in Singapore on the way.  Sue and I have memories which will stay with us for a lifetime.  Since arriving back we have been caching up with our family here in the UK, including attending my sister Mary's 70th birthday meal and spending time with our 3 wonderful grandchildren.  We have been reminded how precious it is to be part of a loving family.

One event which brought with it very mixed emotions was attending a Thanksgiving Service for the life of a man called Gilbert Wall.  Gilbert was a much loved and respected member of one of the churches of which I was formerly minister in Doncaster.  I felt very privileged to be able to take part in the Service.  Gilbert was a man of deep Christian faith.  One of the many strengths of his character was that he was always willing to give time to anyone he met, whether that person was someone in high office or was a person begging in the street.  It seems to me that giving another person some of our time is one of the most valuable things we can give.

When we were in New Zealand, my nephew Michael recommended a film he had seen, called 'About Time.'  The film features a young man, Tim, who at the age of 21 discovers that he can travel back in time along his own timeline and change what has taken place.  It just so happened that this film was one of the options available to watch on our Singapore Airlines flight back to the UK, and so I took the opportunity to watch it.  It raises some fascinating issues about how we might want to go back and change certain events, and also about the whole matter of our use of time.  Ultimately it leaves the challenge of how we can best use and appreciate whatever time we are given.

When I was planning my sabbatical I decided to focus particularly on my relationship with God.  The gospels reveal that Jesus made his relationship with God the Father his absolute priority.  He often went off to quiet places to pray and be alone with God.  It is clear that if we want to grow in any relationship we have to devote time to it.  If I want my relationship with God to deepen I need to spend some quality time alone with him.  Tomorrow I head off to Scarborough for a week to do just that: to have some focussed "God time".

What I really want to understand more, however, is how to live in that closeness of relationship with God not just when I devote time to be alone with him, but when I am living my everyday life.  In other words, when I am in the busyness of day-to-day life, how can I maintain that sense and awareness of God's presence, and an ability to hear him speak even in the hustle and bustle of life?  I have thoroughly enjoyed and benefited from the first month of my sabbatical, but I also look forward with great anticipation to what lies ahead.