On "Wasting" Time and Wasted Timing

The pomegranates have appeared in the land, the time for pruning and singing has come; the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. Song of Solomon 2:12

While curled up on the couch with my iPad this beautiful Saturday morning, Clifford on the TV for Aiden and a hot cup of coffee by my side, I found this short but high-impact little nugget from Seth Godin on the subject of wasting time:

Seth Godin - Wasting Time

I think Seth has hit on something critical here - that what we do in our "downtime" is as important as what we do when we're hard at work or engaged in something "important" - but I admit that I'm not a fan of the phrase "waste of time." You can't really waste time. Waste implies that you didn't use that time, that somehow you burned it. Time is a currency you're going to spend whether you like it or not. You can, however, waste opportunity. And God fills our days with many moments of opportunity. It's less about a waste of time, and more about a waste of timing.

Obviously time is important. We are only allotted so much of it, and the clock is ticking. Our days are numbered. There are 865 passages across 63 books in the Bible that reference time. But a great many of them speak to moments of timing - where availability, preparation, and opportunity intersect. More than a few of those 865 contain references to "at that time" or "at the appointed time," and we see the plans of God breathed into those spaces of temporal opportunity. God has give us every indication that timing really is, as they say, everything.

As Seth suggests, spending our downtime currency in meaningful ways is so important. It's in those times of "pruning and singing" (Song of Solomon, above) that we hear from God, discover purpose, give free reign to joy and creativity, weed out the junk in our souls, and have our thinking and our attitudes painfully, but mercifully, pruned by our loving God. But that expenditure of time is not for our personal edification. It is for our preparation. It is the downpayment of time on the future prize of unmissed timing.

She is clothed with strength and honor, and she can laugh at the time to come. Proverbs 31:25

The woman of God who can laugh at the future (and I interpret this as a joyful, abundant laugh, not a nose-thumbing, taunting one) is the woman who has invested both her "up" time (the work of her hands) and her downtime (pruning and singing) in ways that make her ready for those divine moments of timing she knows will come. Some will involve tragedy, pain, and the fruit of resilience. Some will involve victory, celebration, and the fruit of joy. Some will involve a bold word spoken at the right time and the fruit of faithfulness.

But she can be assured that all of them will involve her, her preparation, and God's perfect timing.

Lea

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