“We get more time!”

My friend smiled joyfully as she said the words.  Her mom, who has cancer, had surgery last week and is healing nicely.

But, I wonder. . .

I’ve experienced the same thing in recent years.  The Lovely Lady’s brother received his original diagnosis four years before the disease took him.  At several points throughout that journey, we realized anew that we had more time, albeit limited, with him.

It changed our relationship; making us more purposeful.  We valued the times around the table—the visits on the backyard deck.  We knew our days together were numbered.

We made the most of them.  We invested in them.

Does that make sense?

The Apostle, my namesake, used the term (at least in the version in which I learned it):  Redeeming the time.

In the book of Colossians (chapter 4, verse 5), he uses it with respect to unbelievers and sharing the Good News with them.  But, in Ephesians (chapter 5, verses 16 and 17), he’s clearly talking about our relationships with those of the faith.

Either way, we’re to invest our hours and days wisely.  It’s nothing like the spending time we refer to so often in our culture.  Redeeming means buying back; reclaiming every minute.

But, here’s what I wonder:

Why do we wait until we have a pretty clear picture of the time frame?  Until we can almost see the limit of our days on earth with those we love?

Our days were numbered from the moment of our conception.

“You saw me before I was born.
    Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
    before a single day had passed.”
(Psalm 139:16, NLT)

He knows how long we have.  He always has. 

And He wants us to redeem every minute.  For Him, and for those He’s blessed us to walk this journey with.

He knows our days without the need for a surgeon’s prognosis—without the calculation of life expectancy from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—without our wide-eyed expectations.

He knows.  And, He wants us to invest ourselves into every bit of it.

I remember a song that was popular in my youth—an awful song (at least they were awful lyrics).  But, there was a grain of truth in it.

The lyrics said, “If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with.”  The author of those lyrics intended them to mean that we love them physically—carnally.

Still, my mind has always traveled by its own strange paths.

And, I’m absolutely certain we’re intended to love the one we’re with.  With the love that God put in our hearts, we are to invest ourselves every day into others He brings into our lives.  In spiritual ways, and in practical ways.

Fill your days with manifestations of love for those around you.  Words are good.  Actions are better.  Gifts are optional.

Don’t wait.

Today needs redemption already.

“We get more time.”

 

“Every moment of light and dark is a miracle.”
(Walt Whitman)

 

“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise,  redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
     Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”
(Ephesians 5:15-17, NKJV)

 

© Paul Phillips. He’s Taken Leave. 2024. All Rights Reserved.