THE BLESSING OF TIME

I know of a minister who at each New Year asks his congregation to bring something with them to church for a special blessing.  He asks them to bring their diaries, and at the end of the service they all hold them up as he asks God’s blessing on them.1

It is a way of getting people to think about how they will use their time in the year ahead, and about how to dedicate some of that time for the good of others.  

Time is one of our most precious gifts, and we are all blessed with exactly the same amount of it - sixty seconds in every minute, 60 minutes in every hour, 24 hours in every day, seven days in every week, twelve months in every year.  None of us has more or less of it than others, however much we may differ from each other in terms of financial wealth or measures of health.

The Biblical book of Ecclesiastes says that for everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.  A time to be born and a time to die.  A time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace.  Eccl. 3:2,8.

So, whether your diary is a spiral-bound notebook, a hardback classic one, a mobile phone or other electronic device, I hope that it will record as the New year progresses and as 2018 eventually comes to a close a record of life-giving, peacemaking and joyful times – times spent doing good to others, as well as times of receiving friendship and love.

PRAYER

God of our world, of the universe, and of all that is, help us to fill our time with opportunities to do good.  Help us thus to fulfil your intention for us to be faithful to You, and exceedingly kind to others.  Amen.

1BBC Radio 4 Prayer for the Day, Vol. 1, p. 10

Pastor J. Ferguson

28 December 2017


Click on the picture for today's music - The Gaither's Vocal Band, Loving God Loving Each Another (LIVE)