Being There
By Rev. William Dohle
They say the greatest gift you can give someone is your presence...and I think they're right. The most treasured thing we have, the one thing we must give away some each day, is time. It is our greatest treasure. Those we spend our time with we hold in the highest esteem. They mean the most to us. Those we spend less or none of our free time with don't really matter in our lives.
Sadly I believe many people forget this fact. Especially couples. Time is precious and what we spend that time on matters. Of course, we must spend some time apart. Work and other obligations must be met. But our free time is ours to do with as we choose and sometimes even that is misused. The time we have is precious and we must treat it as such. In my ministry, I have seen many couples choose to spend their free time in separate places, away from each other. One leaves for a weekend without the one here. The other goes away for a weekend without the other there. One decides to vacation at this place. The other that place. It isn't long before the two of them are living completely separate lives which, unfortunately, often leads to divorce.
The same thing goes with our children too. As parents, we only have a short time with our children to be with them in the home. The goal of parenting is to raise independently minded, loving, faithful adults, but the time we have to do that is so short. It saddens me when parents too will spend so much of their free time alone or apart from their kids. They are only here for a short time. We need to treasure that.
Thankfully, God knows the value of time. In fact, we are told in Scripture, that God never leaves us. He doesn't go away from us or abandon us. He doesn't go off and do his own thing for a weekend someplace else leaving us to our own devices. Instead, God is here with us the whole way.
In the center of Exodus, right at the heart of God's law, comes the promises that God will be with Israel...and likewise us. God is with them, not in some detached way, but in a real, active way. Here's what God is going to do...
...I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way...These are all God's actions for God's people. This is the result of God's being there.
...I am preparing a place for you...
...I will wipe out your enemies...
...I will take away sickness from among you...
...I will give you a full life span...
...I will will make your enemies turn their backs and run...
...I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the [other nations[ out of your way.
...I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines(from Ex 23)
We can look at that list today and marvel at what God did for the people of Israel then. And we can look at that list and see what God does for us now.
Few of us know or can even comprehend what we are protected against. We just don't see it. When we claim God has left us, sometimes I think it is our perceptions that are at fault. We just don't see what God is doing. That's how good he is. Like an expert magician, God hides much of what God does for us. He just does it!
In the course of the day, God protects us from all kinds of evil. He heats our homes and warms our hearts. He opens our eyes to the needy and gives us the courage to reach out to those who are wanting. God convicts us our sins and forgives us of them too. He loves us through our friends and family and strengthens us along the way.
That's only a small list. God does so much more too! God is constantly at work all around us, doing what he does unseen, all because he's here. Because God doesn't take a vacation away from us, his family, he is able to walk with us, beside us, on every step of life's journey.
God never leaves us nor forsakes us. Maybe because God knows how precious time is to us. After all, we are like the grass which is here today and gone tomorrow, burned up in the fire. Maybe God knows this...
But I think it has something to do with how much God loves us. God loves us so much that he sent His Son to live, die, and live again all for us. God loves us enough to say, in effect, life isn't long enough with my people. I want them with me forever.
May we spend our time with our families as God spends his time with us. Lavishing what little time we have with them on them.
I am on earth but a short time. Give me wisdom that I may count my days and invest them wisely in those around me. Amen.
p.s. If you are struggling with time management, particularly in your relationships, talk to someone, a pastor or a councilor. Someone who can help. Silence is the quiet killer of relationships.
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