Tag: time

Wasted Runway

Most of the people who know me know that I hate flying. It seems so wrong to be hurtling through the sky while people are casually reading, watching something on their phones, having a soda, and walking up and down the aisle. They all seem so calm. I appear that way on the outside, rest assured, on the inside I am panicking for all of us!

I recently flew back from visiting our daughter and forced myself to watch the entire descent. I was thrilled to see the trees; it meant we were getting closer to the ground. I was even happier to see the cars along the roads near the airport. I was almost giddy when I could see the runway. I kept waiting for the pilot to touchdown. We were still moving, no touchdown. Still moving, no touchdown. When those wheels finally made contact with the asphalt, I was elated. My next thought was, “he sure did waste a lot of runway.” It seemed to me that we could have touched down so much earlier and taken advantage of that wonderful solid ground.

And that got me thinking about life, how often do I waste my own runway?

“Be very careful, then, how you live-not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:15-16

I have a brand new runway every day when my feet touch the floor. What am I doing to make the most of it? Don’t misunderstand what the passage above is saying. It doesn’t tell us that we need to tackle a mountain-sized to-do list every day or that we need to work ourselves to the point of exhaustion. It says that we are to live “not as unwise, but as wise.” 

Those who are wise are intentional with their runway. From the time their feet touch that runway in the morning until those feet come off the runway and are pulled up under the covers on the bed at night, they use what they have to do the good works that God places in front of them. They don’t waste their precious runway with things that aren’t important. 

It is so easy to let distractions, worries, and what ifs steal miles and miles from us. None of those have helped me in any given situation or extended my runway. It was just a waste of something precious that I can’t get back. However, I can be sure that from now on, I am more intentional with this gift that I have been given.

Each moment on our runway is a gift that we have from God. Once the moment is spent, it is gone forever. I don’t know why that pilot wasted so much runway, but I don’t want to waste an inch of mine. 

Time with God

There have been seasons in my life when I found it difficult to sit down, undistracted for any amount of time and study God’s word. At times it was because we had small children at home, other times it was due to the very long to-do list, or stress at work, or a brain that would just not be quiet, or a heart that was so incredibly heavy with grief. It was frustrating because at the time, I thought that was the only way to spend time with God. 

I wish that I could go back and tell my younger self that spending time with God doesn’t always have to be sitting with a Bible in hand in a quiet room. It can be so many other things.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Romans 12:1

If I am truly living out this scripture, my entire life should be given over to God. Not just Sunday mornings in worship, not just the times that I can sit and study scripture. But also the times that I am driving in the car, making dinner, washing dishes, mowing the yard, or weeding the flower beds. Every single thing that I do every single day is to be done in service to God. This is how I worship Him.

Now, some of my favorite times with God are when I am running. Want to know why? It’s the easiest time for me to be quiet and just listen. My mom always said that I have the gift of gab. I can sit and talk to people for hours. I talk too much. It’s a struggle. When I am running, I have to choose between talking and being able to breathe. I choose breathing, so God gets to do all of the talking, and I do all the listening. 

It’s not that hard. I just start with, “God, this is what is on my heart, this is what I am struggling with today.” And then I listen. I can’t tell you how many times I have hit the pavement with a problem, and by the time I finished running, I had a solution. In fact, I was out for a run when the idea hit me to write this blog post. 

I even wrote this post, and then just let it sit on my computer for nearly a week because I wasn’t sure how it would be received. I don’t want to give anyone the wrong idea. I think it is incredibly important that we read scripture and study it in depth. I believe there is a reason that we are told to “Be still” in Psalm 46:10. I also think it isn’t the only way to spend time with God. Even as I was trying to decide whether or not to share these thoughts, a teacher at school asked me if I believed that sitting down in a quiet room was the only way to study and spend time with God. Okay, God, I see what you did there.  

I can spend time with my Father in every aspect of my life. Everything that I do, I do for Him. In fact, any daily task is a great time to reach out to God. He is there. Just like He has run every step with me, He also rides in the car with me, and is listening if I want to talk to Him while I am washing dishes. Do you love hanging out with your kiddos in the kitchen or on the ride to school? That’s exactly how God feels about you! He loves spending time with His children regardless of what we are doing. 

Try it out! Invite God to hang out with you today while you go about whatever task is on your to do list. Share with Him what is on your heart! He will be delighted and you just might be surprised at how your heart finds peace and comfort during that time with Him.