Jim Croce sang a song back in the ’70s called “Time in a Bottle.” He wrote the lyrics to this song after his wife, Ingrid, told him she was pregnant with his son, Adrian, in December 1970. It appeared on his 1972 album “Don’t mess around with Jim.” The label didn’t originally intend to release the song as a single, but when Croce died in a plane crash in 1973, because of its relevance, it was released and became a No.1 hit for obvious reasons.
Croce’s song about mastering time is not unique. Songs about time are everywhere, and most of us recognize how we steward our time matters …. A LOT.
Moses wrote Psalm 90:12 and said: “Teach us to number our days right, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” The New Living Translation says, “teach us to realize the brevity of life so that we may grow in wisdom.”
What if we numbered our days? What if you pulled out your cell phone and opened up your calculator to do the math? Being generous, imagine you’ll live to be 85. Go ahead, do it. Take your age and subtract it from 85. Then multiply that number by 365. How many days do you have left, and how can you steward it well?
Here’s the unfortunate news; the majority of our lives are founded around ordinary moments.
On average, we spend:
25 years asleep.
10.5 years working.
1.1 years cleaning.
2.5 years cooking food.
3.66 years eating.
4.3 years driving.
1.5 years in the bathroom.
92 days on the toilet.
14 days of kissing.
1 year deciding what to wear.
Here’s the good news; the ordinary is actually the opportunity. Opportunity is always disguised as ordinary until it’s not.
We steward time well by paying attention to ordinary moments.
“Be very careful how you live—not as unwise but wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand the Lord’s will.” Ephesians 5:15-17
When you give ordinary moments extraordinary attention, God redeems the ordinary for His purpose. Paul teaches us in the passage above that “the days are evil.” They pass along and deceitfully pose as common and familiar. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Paul challenges us to “make the most of every opportunity.” The ordinary is an opportunity in disguise.
Like Croce says, we can’t store “Time in a bottle.” It comes, and then it’s gone. Every day is a gift; we never know which will be our final day. Every ordinary moment is a miracle in the making. The way we steward our time matters… A LOT.
May we be careful then how we live, not as unwise but as wise.
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