Making Time Our Friend

** To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: ** Ecclesiastes 3:1

Time. There is never enough of it. Unless there is too much of it.

When our to-do-lists are long, we wish we had more time. When we are anxious, waiting for good news in a bad situation, time is our tormentor.

How do we handle our time challenges? How do we stretch our time when needed? How do we wait patiently in times of trouble? How do we make time our friend instead of our enemy?

If we continue to read through Chapter 1 of Ecclesiastes, we will find some tips on time management.

Verse 12 tells us ** but for a man to rejoice, **. We can learn to enjoy the moment.

If our day is too full and we have no idea how we are going to accomplish it all….?

Stop. Take a breath. Breathe. Invite the Lord to join us and let Him know that we are looking forward to what He is about to do with our day. That we are going to keep our eyes open for the beautiful moments. That we will walk (not run) through our day and we will be a light and an encouragement to those we see along the way.

If our day is filled with pain and worry it is harder to rejoice but the **joy of the Lord is our strength**. We can start small. We can give thanks for any little thing….for being alive and being able to feel pain and joy. We can read the Psalms or any passage that gives us more peace. We can listen to music that makes us want to sing along and speak out loud the Greatness of our God.

Verse 12 also tells us to **Do good.**

Whether we are hurrying or hurting, we can choose to do good. We can choose to keep our emotions in check and not take our stress and pain out on those around us. We can find little things to do for others and that will help to get our mind off of ourselves. We can make the effort to be interested in someone else’s day, and what burdens they are carrying.

We can trust. ** He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. ** Verse 12

Whether we are overwhelmed with stress or with heartache, we can trust the Lord that He is in control. We can believe that there is a bigger plan in motion than what we can see or feel. We can go through our day looking for the encouragement that He is sending to us to help us keep going.

Because what God does is eternal. ** I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: ** verse 14. We feel in the here and now. We do what we do in the moment. But God is always working in the eternal. He is always moving us toward eternity. Our trials and our victories are the stitches in time that will frame our eternal.

Think Almighty. ** so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end** This goes hand in hand with the eternal. God is doing something supernatural that we cannot see. His angels are with us, His Spirit is within us. He is orchestrating miracles, small and great. He is God Almighty. We shouldn’t try to get through our day counting on ourselves. We can go to the Source of all Power and Strength.

Be at peace. ** every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God. **

Today is a gift of God. Whatever we need to face today, it is His gift to us. Our tough days and our busy days. They are gifts. They are treasures to be enjoyed. They are moments to embrace.

We can let time be our friend or our enemy. Let’s choose to make friends with it and enjoy our time together!