T.I.M.E. -- The Intangible Monetary Exchange

Just when I think I've had an original thought, 'ol Thoreau 
comes and ruins it for me!

Well, even if it's not an original thought, the subject of Time as a Commodity
is something on my mind today...

If "real" time (or the Present) is a nonrenewable commodity, 

what am I given in exchange for my investment of it today?

What started this whole train of thought this morning was as I was "spending time" with God I started thinking about time as a commodity that when invested can never actually be returned (once gone, it's forever gone)...

 Yet on the other hand, what a smart investment it is to "spend my time" connecting with God and his brilliant mind and love-filled heart for me as it yields returns that are priceless and far-reaching.

But not all of the things for which I exchange my one and only life
are as wise an investment... or even an investment at all.

If truly I am the proprietor of my time (because who really owns time but God) , and I've been given 24 hrs/day x 7 or 168 hours in a week:

• How much thought am I giving to my current time "spending" habits? 

• Is the value of my time worth the exchange?

• Or am I bartering something I can never get back                         for something I don't even want?

There are so many ways to invest our time,
and the point is not
to get all twisted up in 'time management"
and have our lives so regimented that we don't even want to participate.

I think the short answer is simply to be more aware of what we have chosen to spend our time on... and do we want to continue doing it this way? Maybe the answer is yes. But if it isn't then a little soul searching with God acting as the guide, never hurts.

Life is always calling to us like vendors at a swap meet-- "Come here." "Buy This." "Do that!", and if you don't know what you're looking for you'll probably come home with things you don't really need or even want... 

Such is time. 

We want to look back at life and realize that although far from perfect, we "paid" attention and "spent our time" on what really mattered. 

Eph 5:15-18 So be careful how you act; these are difficult days... be wise: make the most of every opportunity you have for doing good. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but try to find out and do whatever the Lord wants you to.

FASTING -- To Be or Not to Be...Fasting, that is.

“No act of virtue can be great if it is not followed by advantage for others. So, no matter how much time you spend fasting, no matter how much you sleep on a hard floor and eat ashes and sigh continually, if you do no good to others, you do nothing great.”

John Chrysostom c. 349 – 407, Archbishop of Constantinople

Okay, can I just be direct?

As the New Year has brought talk of participating in any sort of FAST-- it has been like a four letter word to the "other girl" (aka: my flesh girl).

Why?
Because Fasting suggests to my 'Black-and-White' way of thinking,

that I do it ...  or I don't do it 

there's no in between. 

And I've given up Fasting at the first stumble so many times that I've been afraid to start again... I haven't wanted to fail.

But this year is different...

I'm truly dedicated to the pursuit of what will make my Spirit Girl healthier so when our Pastor reminded us today that our church would be starting a voluntary Fast in February...i felt the pressure to respond (granted, the pressure was not coming from the pulpit, but from something inside of me that knew this was my year to participate.) Ugh!

...I felt sure he was going to say yes I should Fast and that he would choose candy because it's the thing I feared giving up the most. So when I asked Him, and then immediately heard..."Candy".

I thought, "Great!!!   I knew it! Ugh!"

(Quick backstory: I dreaded giving up candy because as a child, it seemed to gratify many of my unmet needs. As an adult, I've struggled with the dependence formed by relying on sweet treats: from helping me to feel better temporarily, to providing a sweet distraction from the bitternesses of life, of loneliness or even the frustration of not knowing how to solve my problems.)

But then a funny thing happened,.. 

I heard another voice say,

"Why don't we try this?"

Huh? I thought we'd already made a decision? Can we just get this over with? 

But instead, I heard the Father say, 

"How about whenever you get home from work and you're going to sit down at your computer to relax, go on FB, etc... and you haven't yet connected with Me for the day, come and connect with me first before you go to the computer?" 

He continued, "We're trying to get away from this 'black-and-white' thinking, right? This ALL or NOTHING? So when you come to me first, your needs for connection, for relaxation, for reassurance and so many others will be me met with me. Isn't that the reason you go to the computer after you've been on one all day at work anyway?"

I was so afraid that God was going to say candy, that I just told myself candy so I could just get it out of the way and not having to deal with making the decision.

But what God showed me was
that at the end of the Fast,
where would I be?
How would I be different?

That's why he instead suggested that a better Fast would be learning how to come to him first, even before I knew I had needs, so that He could meet them and then I'd no longer need to find what I was looking for in spending time with the computer or ultimately eating candy.

My unmet needs would now be met...by Him.

If you enjoyed my story, you might enjoy this article about Pope Francis and his take on fasting:

http://time.com/3714056/pope-francis-lent-2015-fasting/