The Gift of Enough Time When Hurry Seeks to Empty You

Time is a gift you need to slow down to grab hold of.

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The slower the living, the greater the sense of fullness and satisfaction.
-Ann Voskamp

I tend to feel like I’m always running behind.

This puts angst in me almost every single day. It’s certainly not the way I want to keep living moving forward.  The to-do list and the activities and all the expectations of people seek to drown me. It’s not until I quiet those voices and seek God do I gain the time I seem to not get enough of.

I recognize I have the choice to make my days what they are. While some things are out of my control, there are still plenty of choices I can make that move me to slow down and breathe deep. Society or culture or social media do not have authority over me. They only have as much as I allow.

I hunger for simplicity.

So I bring things into my life promising just that. Then, I get overloaded once again. The only promise I have about time is what I’m given in this moment–a gift from God. I get to choose how to fill it. I can choose what everyone else says I should do or I choose what God calls me to do.

Culture, society, or people are not the boss of me.

My service to God is.

If He tells me to serve my family by washing dishes and scrubbing bathroom floors, then that is the holy work I will do. It is not a waste.

If He tells me to lock myself in my office for several hours a week, writing words to encourage and challenge people, and to bring hope to a dark work, then that is the holy work I will do, too. It’s not a waste.

If He calls me to wake up early to spend 60-90 minutes in quiet solitude with Him before my family demands all my time and energy for the day, then that is what I must do. Because it is in these places that time slows and God moves. It’s in the holy places God has called me to where hurry diminishes.

The time God has for you may look different than mine, but it is no less holy.

I just want time to do my one life well.
-Ann Voskamp

In Your Word

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
making the best use of the time because the days are evil.
Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Ephesians 5:15-17 (ESV)

In Your Life

How can you turn down the voice of the culture, of people, so you can hear the voice of God and walk in only what He has for you? Busy does not equate to holiness. You have permission to slow down and walk carefully by not filling up every bit of time with more to do.

We Recommend

What a great year to revisit or pick up for the very first time, Ann Voskamp’s book One Thousand Gifts. Ann takes you through a beautiful journey to joy as you learn that God’s abundant gifts are in your everyday life. You need only look to see. Maybe we could all use this reminder and refocus?

Let’s Connect

You can find Christin on her blog at ChristinSlade.com and on Instagram: @ChristinSlade.