Do We Have Time?

I spent part of the evening yesterday "dead-heading" flowers. For the uninitiated, lest you think I am Morticia Adams, dead-heading is snipping off the dead blooms from a plant to encourage new growth and new flowers. Dead-heading is why I buy and plant begonias -- they don't need it. I don't know what happens to dead begonia blooms, but whatever it is, they do it without me. Unfortunately, geraniams, dianthus, and the cute little purple flowers on our front porch all require periodic maintenance. I don't like to do it; I don't have time for dead-heading.

Actually, that's not true. I don't have the inclination for dead-heading. After my short lived gardening chore last night, I spent over an hour on the porch swing talking with my husband. That I have time for; that I like.

My point is that I find the time for what I want to do. "I don't have time for that" is probably more correctly translated as "I don't want to do that." I can't count the number of times that at the end of the day, I've said something like, "I really should have done such and such today, but didn't." Steve will answer, "You should have told me. I would have done it." I invariably say, "I knew you were busy." His answer -- always -- "Let ME decide my schedule. I know what I need to do."

He's right. We all work our lives around our priorities, finding time for the things that we want to do around those things that we have to do.

I'm teaching this Sunday about 2 Corinthians 8:1-15. The title of the lesson is "Giving Generously." I've read the student book but fell asleep reading the teacher's manual after only a paragraph or two. That's not a good sign.

Anyway, do we give generously of our time? Do we use excuses to avoid doing those things that we don't want to do? I know I do.

It's perfectly acceptable to say "No" to a task. I just think we need to be honest -- at least with ourselves -- about the reason for the negative response. Do we way "No" because the task doesn't match our talents? Do we say "No" because the task just isn't a high priority for us when compared to the other things we need to do? Do we say "No" because we just don't want to do it? Do we say "No" because we truly do not have the time to do the task because of our other commitments? Any of those are valid reasons.

Whatever the reason, we need to be aware of the real reason, and not try to fool ourselves with an excuse. Choosing the task which matches our talents, gifts and desire is an important job. I think that this honesty -- this willingness to examine what we are doing -- will lead us to doing that which God has planned for us. It will lead us to generosity in giving.

Does it sound like I'm saying that we should only do those things which make us happy? I'm not. We all have to do those tasks which we would rather not do. On the whole, though, we need to have an awareness of who we are and what we want to do. Once we accomplish that, then we need to open our ears and eyes for God's calling. I'm going to mess up this quote, but essentially, that point at which our desires and God's calling intersect is where we find joy.

Image: Our "herb garden" (one half of it, anyway) -- begonias (for color, not for eating), sage, lavendar, rosemary, oregano and Franklin, the eccentric. He is a frog who holds a yard light shaped like a copper umbrella. He SHOULD come one when it is dark, but he shines to the beat of his own drummer. In the middle of the herbs is my basket of dead flowers and wickedly sharp clippers. Too bad you can't smell the picture, because all the herbs are wonderful.