Do You Have Enough Time?

Whenever I officiate at a funeral, I will almost always read from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8--a passage that contains these words: 

There is a time for everything,    and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die...

A time for everything... really?  Then why is it that so many of us find ourselves at the end of our days and weeks feeling as though there wasn't enough time to get all the things done that needed doing?  

"It's Time that stands in our way,"we tell ourselves.  "There's only so much of it, right?"  

Far too often our fears of using our time poorly, and then not having enough time to rectify our mistakes keeps us immobilized, frozen where we are, afraid to move. 

We then spend our time agonizing over every decision, every urge that we might feel to act, to be bold, to strike off in a direction, any direction, and all because we worry we won't have enough time. 

One of my favorite T.S. Eliot poems is the The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock that speaks directly into this angst that so many of us feel: 

"And indeed there will be timeTo wonder, 'Do I dare?' and 'Do I dare?"...Do I dare Disturb the universe?In a minute there is timeFor decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse."

It's a good thing for us that the ancient Hebrew wisdom of Ecclesiastes breaks this problem down for us so beautifully.  The Teacher who wrote Ecclesiastes 3 basically tells us: 

Life is short.  You are only here for a moment.  The startling truth is that just as sure as you were born, you will die.  BUT, there is time for everything--a season for every activity, every aspect of life.  So go and live.  

May you live your life free from the fear of not having enough time.  May you come to see your brief time here on earth as a gift and a mandate.  May you spend the time you've been given doing things that matter... things that are life-giving, that bring joy, light and peace to the world.  

And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.