Peace by Piece

REDEEM, RECLAIM, RECOUP

BY STEPHANIE FINCHER

“How on earth do you do what you do and get it all done?” I asked my new friend as we sipped on coffee one mild afternoon. Married with children whom she teaches from home, encouraging others amid day-to-day tasks, serving as a light to a world steeped in need, and somehow squeezing in time to inspirationally write! It wore me out to process such intentionality, yet she bubbled over with zeal. My thoughts mused that I must be “getting old” now that my own children were grown. “No, no, that’s not it,” I reasoned with myself. OK, yes, it actually is. While it is true that I am “older”, I never liked those two words shoved together in a negative assumption. Getting old – good grief, it’s not a rash! Besides, isn’t aging with gray hair the “crown of splendor” as declared by Proverbs 16:31? And does it count if my splendor is somewhat veiled under strands of golden “highlights”?

As the afternoon wore on and the conversation grew richer, I asked my friend various questions about her life and how God was directing the current flow of all she was doing. She said something simple, and I was surprised that it grabbed my attention the way that it did. I asked how she managed such an exhaustive list of meaningful activities without drowning in chaos. She looked at me with a kind intensity and said, “I fill every…single…minute. I am a minimalist,” she said, “and I don’t really watch TV or engage in social media, so I use every moment I’ve got.” As I considered the real depth of her words, I recalled a verse in Ephesians 5:15- 17, and understood that the sweet woman sitting across the table from me was living out the wisdom in God’s powerful Word…

So then, be careful how you walk, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. (NASB)

Making the most of your time. Those six little words can be so easily pushed aside and replaced with the “rathers” of our own preferred agenda, can’t they?

I’d rather catch the morning news instead of being filled by the Word and prepared for the day.

I’d rather check the “likes” of my photo and clever-sounding posts instead of planning tonight’s dinner and purposeful activities.

I’d rather shop for shoes and online sales instead of romping outside as the kids run and play.

The rathers themselves are by no means shameful activities, but they can turn rather bad if you find unaccomplished goals and sour moods slowly creeping in with familiar regularity. Sometimes re-establishing a good habit like a sensible bedtime hour can reset the compass back to a much better direction. One little change may lead to discovering other ways to make the most of your time rather than time making the least of you (and your overall life). In other words, figuring out where your minutes are stolen and taking them back to repurpose and restore what may have been wasted and ruined.

The King James Bible uses the word redeem in Ephesians 5:15-17, which means to buy back or recover. I like to think of it as reclaiming or recouping because although we cannot get back time that is gone or opportunity lost, God graciously gives us right here and right now to appropriate our present time in ways that please Him. It produces a return which profits us now and in the future. That is the loving God we serve! How easy it is to think we have “blown it” beyond His patience or His grace for another chance. It is a reminder that His ways and His thoughts are nothing like ours – For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. (Isaiah 55:8, ESV) What an assuring truth to know that He does not measure us with the same standards that we use! With that in mind, what is one thing you can do differently with your time today than what you did yesterday? Today will soon be yesterday, so why not tie a new ribbon on today for a more meaningful and rewarding tomorrow?

As you consider the flow of your own daily life and God’s whisper to recapture the time, I leave the following reflection written from my heart to yours…

Let us rise up with a Hallelujah of praise and reclaim and redeem for the rest of our days! Look at the clock where time slips away and ask for His grace to be given today. The life that you live and the role that you play is an offering to Him with each breath that you take. Consider what’s left and generously give, for the earth will be gone, but not the life that you lived! The wealth of your time and your giftings abound, and these are the things for which you are crowned. And then on that Day as you humbly bow down, that crown you will cast, and a hush will resound. Your Heavenly Father will lift up your face, to behold His great glory, the Savior of Grace. “Well done,” He will say, “Your best life to Me, now enter My joy, your grand eternity!”