Why We Have Time

“Hey, how have you been?” My friend who I hadn’t seen in weeks, asked me. I popped up from behind the counter in the youth area of the church where I worked, to see her smiling face.

“Good, just really busy.” I answered quickly. It was a Sunday. I was coming off of leading the second Jr. High service of the day, and was gearing up for a meeting with students. My friend was passing through the youth area on her way to her car after service.

“How are you?” I asked, hoping she knew I really wanted to know, only I felt pressed for time.

“I’m good. Hey we should get together soon. Maybe get lunch or coffee?”

Her words hung in the air for a few seconds longer than they should have. I felt swamped in my job. I didn’t know if I could make the time to get together for another week or two.

“I don’t know. I am really busy,” I said finally. Then I said something about being sorry, and that I would let her know when I was free. Thankfully, she seemed to understand. She said goodbye and headed out to her car.

Sometimes, life is overwhelming.

We can’t seem to fit everything in. Obligations, and even desires, pull at us from every corner of our lives. There are things we mustsay yes to. Then there are situations where we feel like we are saying no to the wrong things. Probably because, in some cases, we are. So often it feels as if

There’s not enough time.

Worse, that there will never be enough time. There are a lot of good, important, and pressing things happening in our lives, and we just don’t know how to balance them. It feels impossible to make time for it all. Yet, I have found it is in these times where some of the most crucial things we need to say yes to, end up falling through the cracks.

These things are the things we tell ourselves we will do “later.” We say when this project at work is finished, I will get to it. Or when the weather is warmer. Or when things calm down at home. Then I will do this thing. I will:

Change my eating habits.

Write that book.

Go back to school.

Exercise more.

Take that trip.

Go to counseling.

Or, in the case of the conversation I had with my friend: Make time for friendships. Only, as I was to learn the hard way; as adults, putting off the things that are most important to us doesn’t work. Because when we put off the very things that will grow us, help us be more whole and healthy adults, or even make our dreams a reality:

Nothing happens.

Our dreams turn into regrets. The “if only’s” multiply. If you had asked me what my greatest need was, around the time I had this conversation with my friend, I would have said friends or community. Only the way I was living my life, you would have never guessed. I was allowing my job to take up all of my time, and didn’t realize the harm I was inflicting on myself. A few months after, things in my job became very difficult, and I had few people to lean on.

“Success in life is in choosing between what you want most, and what you want most right now.”

Though our lives may seem hectic, it doesn’t mean we don’t have time for what is most important. Recently, one of my favorite influencers, Rachel Hollis, was speaking to a group of people. As she talked about how little time we have in our lives, you could see the audience nod their heads in agreement. Then, she went on to ask them plot line questions about popular TV shows. They could answer every one. Her point was this—it’s not that we don’t have time to do the things we keep putting off, it’s just that we spend it on lesser, easier things. She went on to say: “Success in life is in choosing between what you want most, and what you want most right now.”

How many out us lose ten minutes here, and twenty minutes there on social media? How many of us, watch TV when we know we could be doing something else? It’s not that we don’t have time; it’s how we spend it. Life is a whirlwind. But there are still ways for you and I to make the most of every minute it gives us.