TIME...
How often have you talked with someone on the telephone, who seemed to
be in a hurry and wanted to get on with more important business? Or
chatted to someone in the street, and sensed the same hurried feeling?
You've undoubtedly experienced it, and perhaps you've also been guilty
of it.
It's a great principle of love that people don't really ever
'interrupt'. Perhaps there shouldn't even be such a word, for when
people cross your path, even for a just a brief time, it can be a
wonderful moment of experience for both of you. Can we really afford
the luxury of being too busy or too important for another person?
We have time for such inanimate things as pieces of mail, vast
sprawling shopping centres, and television at 7am. But what about
relationships with people? Isn't that a great deal of what life is all
about - loving other people? Think of Jesus? The New Testament does not
give a picture of an man who raced around, hurrying from one city to
another, collecting great crowds of people on the way, to give them a
few snippets of information about heaven, then dash on to the next
place?
Clearly He had time for people. In a crowd, a woman touched His robe.
Lots of people were probably pushing against Him, but He discerned the
urgency in this particular touch. He stopped, taking valuable time for
this 'interruption'. His disciples were full of fire and computer-like
efficiency. They wanted to get on with task of getting something
done... even if they didn't always know what that something was.
Once, a bunch of small, grimy-fingered children appeared and wanted to
climb on the Master's lap. “Get those children out of here,” thought
the goal-oriented disciples. “No, let them stay. Let's enjoy them, and
let them enjoy us,” thought the true-goal-oriented man from heaven, who
knew and expressed the great worth of the individual.
The next time someone 'interrupts' you, think not of your work and your
deadlines; rather, think of that person's needs, of his or her hidden
compliment in desiring to spend a few moments with you. Your meeting
may be a significant point in each of your lives, because it is an
encounter with another person God has created. You may impart something
crucial to his or her fulfilment - or they to yours.
Paul prayed, “May the God, who gives patience, and encouragement, give
you a spirit of unity among yourselves.,. each with the attitude of
Christ toward the other (Romans 15:5)
When as a child I laughed and wept, time crept.
When as a youth, I dreamed and talked, time walked.
When I became a full-grown man, time ran.
And later, as I older grew, time flew.
Soon I shall find while travelling on, time gone...
PSALM 90:12
"Teach us to number our days aright,
that we might gain a heart of wisdom," |
