I am not the world’s best timekeeper. Twice a week I share a lift with a friend to our local gym for keep fit classes. We have a system where she picks me up about 15mins before the class is due to start and we arrive with plenty of time to spare. However our system has recently been broken because our usual route is now blocked because of road subsidence.
I arranged to drive instead, picking her up as planned, but what I failed to realise was that I needed to add on another 10-15minutes to our journey. During the morning, I kept my eye on the clock, thinking I would leave at 10.30am and we would have plenty of time for our 11am class.
However….I got ensconced in one thing or another, and before I realised it I was having to rush out of the door at the last minute. Then I remembered our class was at 10.45am not 11am!
We set of at breakneck speed through the increasingly muddy and potholed country lanes, arriving breathless (and with a few more grey hairs) just as the class was about to start.
Before I receive criticism for my timekeeping, I know I am not the only one…..a colleague of mine, who shall remain nameless, but they know who they are!…was getting ready to travel to Elmsett, with one eye on the clock and the other on the task of tidying up at home, when they realised that the clock hands had not moved for many minutes. A frantic phonecall later and all was OK, we were happy to wait.
God doesn’t keep time, he has all the time in the world for us. But do we sometimes push him out until the “last minute”? Do we rush to meet him breathless our minds focussed elsewhere? Do we try and juggle too many things and then find we don’t give priority to God?
Don’t look at the clock, don’t count the minutes, simply take moments, minutes, calmly reflecting, quietly listening, simply being in God’s presence.