Daily Devotional - Time Is a Gift

To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven. 
—Ecclesiastes 3:1

Time is a resource God gives us, and we must use our time to be fruitful. One of the phrases we should avoid, both verbally and in our attitudes, is: “I just have a little time to kill.” Time is not a commodity to kill or to “pass”; it is a gift to steward. If you are like I am, you like to be productive with every minute. In my daily life, I make a diligent effort to keep everything on schedule. Sometimes that gets me in trouble because circumstances sometimes cause me to fall behind, and then I have to rush. I do not like to hurry, so I am learning to put a little more margin in my life—to allow more time between appointments and scheduled activities—and that relieves a good bit of frustration.

There are times when you do not have enough minutes or hours to go complete a task or do something you want to do, but it’s too early to do the next thing you need to do. When you have five, ten, or fifteen minutes, don’t just “kill” your time. Use it to bear fruit. Keep a book or a Bible with you and use those few minutes to read something. Listen to a worship music or part of a sermon. Pray. Make a few phone calls. Write someone a note of encouragement. When you have a few minutes, make them count.

To me, one of the worst things that can happen to people is to grow old and look back upon their lives and realize they never took time to do what they thought they were supposed to do or what they wanted to do. I do not want you to look back in your latter years and think you wasted your life or feel you never really did anything worthwhile. No matter what your age is today, it is not too late to start right now using your time to bear fruit.

Love Yourself Today: Lord, help me today to use wisely the gift of time You have given me.