We each have 24 hours, 1440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds in a day. We’re alive and responsible for this time. It’s ours to use and once it’s gone, we can’t get it back.
Some days it seems like we run around aimlessly like chickens with our heads cutoff trying to get everything done. At the end of those days, feelings of anger and annoyance take over because not enough was accomplished. While other days laziness kicks in and nothing gets done. Those days also end in anger and annoyance because, once again, not enough gets done. We try too hard or we just give up – no balance, nothing in the middle.
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to study a passage in Ephesians. In Ephesians 5:15-16, Paul’s main instruction for the people is for them to acknowledge the need to “walk wisely”. This seems like a simple thing to do; however, sometimes the most seemingly easiest things turn out to be the most challenging. He is telling them to be deliberate and to not do things on a whim. Make good decisions, follow directions, plan ahead, and don’t break the rules…easy, right? It also means thinking through situations and consequences before acting. Hmmm, not always so easy…
One of the little girls I babysit went through a phase where she would run around with her eyes closed. It was fine when she was at her house because she knew where everything was and, for the most part, there was nothing to trip over. However, she would do this same thing other places, too. One afternoon we went to the park and she did her same routine of running with her eyes closed. She got into the playground area and took off running. She tripped into a tunnel slide and ended up with a massive bruise on her arm and a black eye, all because she wasn’t paying attention to where she was going. She wasn’t walking, or running, wisely.
In 1st Timothy, Paul gives another warning to “watch your life and doctrine closely”. Instead of running through life with our eyes closed, and suffering the consequences, we need to be alert and living with a purpose. It’s all a crazy balance of being deliberate and using all of our 86,400 seconds each day.
“We live, we love. We forgive and never give up. ‘Cause the days we are given are gifts from above so today we remember to live and to love.”
-Chorus of “We Live” by Superchic[k]
