The Closest I Will Ever Come to Quoting Kevin Bacon (I Think)

I came home from my run yesterday with a heavy heart. I had just stopped and visited with a couple that has received some devastating news and I hurt for them and their family. What the future holds for them is as unclear as the gray murky skies I now view from my chair. The safety and security they once held as a couple growing old together has been shattered and their daily routines have come to an abrupt halt. Ministry has caused a great amount of contemplation to almost everything I do now. On this day, that sense of contemplation was heightened.

As I was stretching outside I glanced around the scenery before me. Most of what I saw was barren farm land. As far as my eye could see there were fields a half mile in length of nothing but tilled up ground or mowed down corn stalks. Field after field after field after field. Depressing brown ugliness which aided my mood of grief and sadness.

As I finished my visual sweep of the land I turned my face into the beams of the sun. Its warmth began to cover me and a feeling of replenishment swept through me. It was if I could feel the life the sun brings seep into every pore of my body and I felt rejuvenated and alive.

I opened my eyes to a sea of green waves. I looked out over the vast length of the field to our immediate west and was overcome by the amount of life it held. Precious blades of winter wheat were sprouting; stretching up towards the heavens reminding me that for everything there is a time. This field, just a month before, had the same deserted look the fields to our north now hold, but its time has come.

And I was reminded of Solomon's wise words:

"There is an occasion for everything,
and a time for every activity under heaven:
a time to give birth and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to uproot;
a time to kill and a time to heal;
a time to tear down and a time to build;
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance;
a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;
a time to embrace and a time to avoid embracing;
a time to search and a time to count as lost;
a time to keep and a time to throw away;
a time to tear and a time to sew;
a time to be silent and a time to speak;
a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace." Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 HCSB

Everything has a time. Everything and Everyone.

I could almost hear God audibly speak to me at this moment. "THIS is your time."

And I understood.
THIS is the time that He has given to me. What will I do with this time? How will I spend it? God won't take me to another time period and let me have a do-over. He has given each one of us a time frame in which to live. How will I go about life?

Because I have chosen Him, I have this time frame to do His will and advance His kingdom. Will I waste it? Will I squander the time he has given me with regrets, longings and fears that keep me from living in the time that He has given me?

Will I waste this time in worldly pursuit?

I have no idea what my future holds. I do not know how much time God has allowed me to have here on earth but I do know this, He has given me this time and I want to live it for Him.

As I stood basking in the sun's glow I prayed for my dear friends and their family and then I prayed for me; to not waste the time I have been given, to live it to the fullest and to live for the One that gave me this life.