Time Management Re-examined

This week I preached a message on Ecclesiastes 3:1-14. This is the passage that deals with the different times in our lives; the times when laugh, weep, dance, mourn, etc. You may have read it before. If not, you’ve heard it in that classic Byrds tune “Turn, Turn, Turn.” This text is powerful because it reminds us that no matter what is going on in life right now, God is at work and that He is in control.

But after the dichotomous list of life’s seasons, Solomon reminds us that God is aware of the business that we have busied ourselves with. American culture loves to be busy. We love to be important and being busy seems to means that we are important. We cram things into our schedule. We fill up our time with “good” things: art, sports, music lessons, trips, meetings, etc. We do these things to find fulfillment, belonging, or even a sense of feeling good about ourselves. But more and more people I talk to say they are spent, tired, worn out. How many of us, day after day, week after week, year after year, wonder where the time has gone and what do we have to show for it?

A friend sent me an email after the sermon and said he liked what I said, but what are we, the “Day Timer” generation supposed to do? We are extremely conscientious of our time management. We want things on time. We are more destination minded than journey minded. Those who are so focused on the destination alone see the journey as a chore to be dreaded. Those who see the journey for what it is, an experience on the way to the goal, can not only rejoice in the goal but all along the way as well. I think we have to find the balance.

That one of the overall themes Solomon’s message: balance. Each of season of life is set up with an opposing season. Each one is equally important and God is at work in each one. We as the “Day Timer” generation must remember that the work God calls us to busy with does wear us out or run us down. When we find our balance and rest in Him, we are refreshed. May we look at our time as something that is not just spent but savored, not just invested but enjoyed. Then, as verse fourteen says: “God has done this, so that all should stand in awe before him.”

3For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
²a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
³a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
⁴a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
⁵a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
⁶a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
⁷a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
⁸a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

9 What gain have the workers from their toil? ¹⁰I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. ¹¹He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover, he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. ¹²I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; ¹³moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil. ¹⁴I know that whatever God does endures for ever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has done this, so that all should stand in awe before him.

Be what He has called you, Believe what He has told you, Become what He has called you