No-Show.

I’ve been guilty of it too, so no finger-pointing from this girl.

We know how it goes. The I’ll try to make it results in I’m sorry I couldn’t make it. We have good intentions initially, but when go-time comes around, are we showing? Are we going?

Try. It means to make an effort to do something. What if someone asked us, “Well, how hard did you try?” Oh snap.

What if we changed the way we thought about our time? What if we shared more of it instead of keeping it to ourselves?

Before you hit me over the head with your purse, protecting our time for good reasons is essential in keeping some resemblance of sanity.

Spending time with family, time in the Word, time in prayer, all good. We need refreshment for our souls and nurturing for our faith. We can even take time for ourselves without feeling guilty, but that’s not what I’m talking about.

There’s a difference between taking time for ourselves and being selfish with our time. 

We don’t have to say yes to everything, but let’s be sure our no is for the right reasons.

Confession time: There have been times I’ve said no for selfish reasons. Imagine that? You too?

I know there have been times when I should have said yes. Times when I was meant to be somewhere for someone, but I wasn’t.

Couldn’t it just all balance out?

Couldn’t we just count all the times we did show, did keep a divine appointment, did extend beyond ourselves, to make up for all those selfish time-hogging-didn’t-try-all-that-hard times? Something tells me it doesn’t work that way.

But saying yes for the right reasons is also important to remember. Besides being selfish with our time, we can also spend too much of it. If the yes isn’t meant for us we could be unintentionally robbing it. How?

We can easily become over-zealous and step on the toes of someone else’s calling. Ouch.

The yes or no dilemma can make us dizzy. The key is prayer and seeking God’s face and His will in all things. We want to be the kind of Jesus follower who answers the call. Our call. We’re not the answer to every need, Jesus is.

What comes to mind when you hear the term “timeshare”? Most of us, including Google, associate the term with telemarketers selling vacation weeks. Perhaps we need to take back that term for the body of Christ. Just a little time shared from each of us can change lives.

Snippets of time add up to a lifetime and chunks of time are being squandered when they could be sacred.

Even just an hour of our time shared could impact someone else’s life for eternity, or at least for an hour.

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Ephesians 5:15-17 ESV

This weekend we set our clocks ahead one hour. Daylight Savings Time. We change time. The purpose is to make better use of natural daylight. How can we make better use of the light we’ve been given? Let us consider how our time can change the world for Christ. Even a snippet goes a long way.

There’s a better way to tell time. We can set it to the eternal clock and spend it for a purpose. Time shared can change lives.

How can we be more intentional with our time today?

Share your thoughts…

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.