Seeing Time

How did He do it? How did the Savior get everything done?

 

Technically, His ministry was only three years long, yet John affirmed that “there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written” (John 21:25).

 

These thoughts kept running through my mind as I thought of the things I didn’t accomplish this week.  I did do some important things, but felt like the rest had slipped through my fingers like water from the tap.

 

Time management has been an “opportunity for growth” for me for a while. I loved Elder Dallin H. Oak’s talk “Good, Better, Best” on how to focus on the Best things rather than spending time and attention on things that are just Good, in order to really prioritize our lives.

 

But, even with this great counsel, I still feel a constant struggle to effectively prioritize things that are better and best—not because I can’t identify what is good, better, or best, but because sometimes I just feel weak, tired, and lazy. ☺

 

My husband and I move frequently and I seem to give up and then receive employment and Church callings almost instantaneously. So, my sense of free time to do whatever I want is zapped immediately.

 

I really laugh at this phenomenon because I figure the Lord knows that I need to stay busy so I’ll stay out of trouble—or maybe, He’s trying to help me learn to really manage my time. I’m tired of just being busy.  I want to be effective.

 

Usually, I just keep a running project list of things people have asked me to do and of things I expect from myself and check things off as I accomplish them. But lately, I find myself fretting over not getting big and small things done…or—let’s be honest—even started.

 

We’re all given 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.  It’s a beautiful plan. Every morning, we all start off on an even playing field. Then we apply our agency and choose what to do with this amazing gift God has given us.

 

With a little reflection, I can easily track my evident priorities.  Unfortunately, some “priorities” really aren’t what I feel or think are my priorities.  And, this is my perpetual struggle.

 

I love stories of the Savior’s humanness.  One time He was so exhausted that He slept through a violent storm! Fearful for their lives, His friends woke Him. Jesus arose and rebuked the wind and sea. “And there was a great calm.”

 

I can see Him turning to His scared, and now astonished, friends and asking, “Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?” (Mark 4:39-40).

 

His sleep was interrupted. His personal time was challenged. Those in the boat had the same capacity to still the storm as He did.  But, they either didn’t realize they had that same capacity or didn’t really believe in their capability.

 

His whole life was full of interruptions and demands on His time. People besought Him for miracles. People sought His doctrine.

 

He was thronged by hordes of people, most who weren’t even really grateful of everything He did for them. His followers were sifted.

 

The masses who hoped for free meals finally really heard His doctrine and turned away. Others visibly honored Him, but didn’t wholeheartedly follow Him. The scribes and Pharisees sought His life.  He was betrayed.

 

Did He feel His time was wasted? I may, or may not, sometimes feel self-righteous about how my time given to others is received.

 

Jesus did good as He passed by, anyway.  Most people in the stories seemed to approach Jesus for help.  I’m curiously interested in the folks Jesus approached.

 

Even Jesus’ disciples judged the sinfulness of the man born blind. Jesus said the man’s infirmity existed so “that the works of God should be made manifest in him” (John 9:3).

 

How had the man spent his lifetime of 24/7s?  Begging and being unjustly judged.

 

Jesus healed the man who promptly found himself again accused and judged. This time by the Pharisees. But, the man had found peace. He knew his capacity.

 

He was asked to judge the Savior.

 

“[O]ne thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. If this man were not of God, he could do nothing” (John 9:25,32-33).

 

The community initially shunned the man because he was blind. Now, they cast him out because he could see.

 

Jesus found him again. I love this. He came to the man in his blindness—his confusion of purpose, his self-doubt, in the midst of a barrage of judgement and condemnation—and He healed the man. The man, reborn in a sense, went forward. He was fearless.

 

He sees.

 

Jesus found him again and asked the man if he believed. “And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped him” (John 9:38).

 

I believe. Does how I spend and manage my time prove that?

 

Elder David A. Bednar taught that “the enabling power of the Atonement of Christ strengthens us to do things we could never do on our own…. [T]he enabling power of the Atonement strengthens us to do and be good and to serve beyond our own individual desire and natural capacity.”

 

And so, I have hope.  A woman with an issue hoped in the Savior’s redemptive and enabling power. She touched the hem of His garment and He healed her. “Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole” (Matthew 9:22).

 

I am a woman with an issue—a ‘time management and lots of things to do’ issue. As I reach to Him in faith and ask for His Grace, I know He will comfort me and strengthen my capacity. If I am ready to change, I will be changed.

 

I know His Grace can strengthen, redeem, and enable you, too.