By Max Lucado
Time in the Hourglass
There’s only so much sand in the hourglass. Who gets it? You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? Each June I put my calendar together for the coming year. Decisions to be made. You may not stockpile your requests until June, but your situation is every bit as real. It’s a tug-of-war, and you’re the rope.
On one side are the requests for your time and energy. They call. They compliment. They’re valid and good. Great opportunities to do good things. If they were evil, it’d be easy to say no. But they aren’t, so it’s easy to rationalize.
On the other side are the loved ones in your world. They don’t ask you to consult your calendar. They don’t use terms like “appointment” and “engagement” or “do lunch.” They don’t want you for what you can do for them; they want you for who you are. Are you making time for them?
The Big Picture
Would you buy a house if you were only allowed to see one of its rooms? Would you buy a car if you saw only its tires and taillights? Good judgment requires a broad picture.
One failure doesn’t make a person a failure; one achievement doesn’t make a person a success. “The end of the matter is better than its beginning,” penned the sage. “Be patient in affliction,” echoed the apostle Paul. We only have a fragment.
Life’s mishaps and horrors are only a page out of a grand book. We must be slow about drawing conclusions. We must reserve judgment on life’s storms until we know the whole story. Jesus said in Matthew 6:34, “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.” He should know – he’s the Author of the story. And he has already written the final chapter.
