A Good Word Wednesday-- TIME

#43 - A little bit of goodness in your mailbox today -- ⌚⏲📆

May 10, 2023

Word of the Day - TIME

Before I introduce you to our good word for today, I want to first take time to welcome new folks to our Good Word community this week. I was honored to be a sponsor for a Giveaway organized by my writer-friend, Twyla Franz. She included my new e-book, 7 Ways to Show People They Are Significant, as one of the giveaways. The contest concludes in a few days and you can find out about it and enter here: Friendship Giveaway. And more about that resource in The Final Word section below.

Now… on to our fresh new Wednesday good word. Time. What immediately comes to your mind when you think of time? Elusive? Fleeting? No beginning and no end? One day at a time?

a group of clocks mounted to the side of a wall

However you consider the concept of time, the universal truth is, we never seem to have enough of it. The older we get, the faster it goes. I remember when I was a young mother, older people would look at my sweet babies and say, “Enjoy them now. Time goes by so fast.” Indeed. Now, I find myself offering the same advice to young moms.

Just this week, two women from our church passed away. One was 92 and the other 99. Wow. Can you imagine the depth of wisdom they have gleaned from all those years of experience? One of the best disciplines we can learn is how to measure our days and manage our time. That’s my question for you this week. Find it in the section below.

What events seem to be frozen in time for you? You can hear the date or event and know immediately where you were when it happened. For me, I vividly remember April 19th, 1995. The date of the Murrah Building bombing in Oklahoma City. I was mowing our backyard early that spring morning. That’s where I was when I got a phone call from my sister-in-law, Susan, to tell me she was ok. She worked in downtown OKC. I had to go inside and turn on the television to find out what she was talking about. For all of us, you probably know where you were on Sept. 11, 2001, when you learned about the horrible crashes into the NYC twin towers.

There are happy occasions too that mark our time…. graduations, weddings, births of our babies. There are rhythms to our day that mark our time… weekday routines and weekend events. Each week zooms by and before you know it, we turn another calendar page.

I took an online quiz a few weeks ago. I entered my info and health factors and it calculated my estimated life span. It told me that my life would end when I was 83. I am almost 63 now. Twenty years. Of course, we don’t know the accuracy of that. I could be in an accident today or Jesus could come back and end earthly time for all of us. All we know is that we have the moment right now. How are you making the most of them? How are you living in the moment? Please share your good words below.

Wednesday in the Word

“My times are in your hands; deliver me from the hands of my enemies, from those who pursue me.” Psalm 31:15
“So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12
“But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” Luke 2:19

Share Your Good Words

Question(s) of the Week: What do you do to manage your time? What do you do to help you slow down and enjoy the moments? Please share your thoughts here!

Good Unseen People

In the story from my blog a few years ago, I say, “As a soon to be second-time grandma, I feel like I’ve earned the right to tell you: enjoy your children at every phase of life. Don’t wish away any phase of life, even if it’s the challenging toddler years or teenage years. You don’t get those years back. Savor them. Treasure them in your heart.”

This story will be included in my upcoming book, Unseen People: Sharing Life and Light with Your Neighbors and the Nations. Click the link below for more info.

Read Short trip from baby corner to family wall

Unseen People book

Good Words I Recommend

A Good Blog: It’s May. That means it’s graduation season. Lots of changes for you and your family. Here are my thoughts from many years ago: Sensing the Changing Seasons

A Good Song: Trees We'll Never See Amy Grant’s new song about the passing of time.

A Good Book:

Redeeming Your Time: 7 Biblical Principles for Being Purposeful, Present, and Wildly Productive by [Jordan Raynor]

Redeeming Your Time: 7 Biblical Principles for Being Purposeful, Present, and Wildly Productive. This book by Jordan Raynor presents useful principles and practical actions to help you redeem your time. And asks the question, how did Jesus best use his time?

NOTE: Please share with me some of your favorite blogs, songs and books. I’d love to know.

Some of the links above are associate links. That means, when you click and purchase, I receive a small percentage of that sale. Those funds, as well as funds from paid subscribers, supports my writing this piece each week. Thank you! I commit to forwarding a minimum of 10% to the amazing nonprofits: She Is Safe and The Red Cord. They help raise awareness of sex trafficking. They help prevent, rescue and restore victims to new life.

A Final Word

One way we can best use the time we are given is to invest it in others. Jesus definitely poured his time into people around him and people who needed help. People long to know they are worthwhile. That they are worth your time to be with. I’ve developed a free resource that helps us practically show others their God-given significance.

See some info about this free guidebook on my website: 7 Steps to Show People Their Significance. This goes out free to new subscribers to A Good Word Wednesday. If you already get A Good Word in your inbox every week, your process is a bit different. First, take a look at the intro on my website. If you would like to have it, email me, or reply here, and just say, Free-7 Steps. I’d love to know what you think about this resource. Some of you helped me shape these steps into a final product. Thank you.