Redeeming Time

Sometimes interruptions happen. Sometimes they happen a lot.

That’s what my past two weeks have looked like. One interruption after another. It doesn’t seem to matter what I do, any attempt to get work done is intruded upon by the more urgent. A piece to revise for competition. A four-month-old niece to baby-sit. A sister who needs to talk. Unexpected errands. And by the time I finally sat down to write, often my brain was fogged over from unusually late nights.

Not that I mind the doing these things. That is, I love talking with my sister, babysitting my growing niece is a delight, and the errands—okay, maybe the errands aren’t so great.

But the result is that I often worry. Worry how I’ll get everything done. Worry whether I’m protecting my writing time sufficiently. Worry what will happen to my writing when I don’t have to freedom I do now, whether from gaining a job or a family or something else.

However, this past weekend I attended a seminar taught by Susan May Warren. During the day, she talked about being a missionary in Russia, trying to do everything that entails while homeschooling her kids. As you probably can imagine, that didn’t lend much time for writing. So she asked God to redeem her time.

Those words brought to my mind the feeding of the five thousand. When Jesus asked about feeding the crowd, Andrew presented a boy’s lunch, but wondered, “How far will they go among so many?” (John 6:9) The immenseness of the task overwhelmed Andrew, especially in light of their meager supplies. Yet with five small barley loaves and two little fish, Jesus fed everyone—with leftovers.

This leads me to ask, if Christ can stretch tangible food that far, how much more can the God of eternity do the same with intangible time—if I’m willing to surrender it to Him?