The Lesson of the Cat Clock
Ben's Grandma gave us this amazing cat clock last Christmas and we have it proudly displayed in our kitchen. We're not "cat people" but this clock reminds Ben of his childhood and it reminds me of the letter Grandmother enclosed with the clock. She wrote that she hoped when we looked at the clock we would be reminded that time is a gift. A gift indeed.
Time has always been important to me. I feel time moving through my body. I like to be ON time. I like to know what time it is. I like plans and schedules and efficiency. So I guess you could say I have always valued time but I have not always viewed it as a gift for which to give thanks. We busy adults tend to talk about time in a negative, thankless way - complaining that there is never enough or lamenting the moments squandered away at stoplights or check out lanes. We drag time around like a ball and chain - feeling that it is spending us as opposed to the other way around.
But time is a gift.
"Turn in thanks and everything turns." - Ann Voscamp, 1,000 Gifts
What if I could wake up every morning and give thanks for another day stretched out before me - full of possibility?
What if I could view 24 hours as a loving limit ordained by a wise and limitless God?
What if time was not my enemy - this unseen force I am forever clawing at, and wringing out and resisting?
What if instead, I could receive time as a gift - a gift held loosely and offered back to the Giver.
I want us to feel the immense value of time, friends! Not so we can be further burdened by it's passing but so that we might be filled with joy at its coming. Can you believe it? We get another day to breathe this air and love these people and work hard for the Lord!
This is a gift - a good gift.
Let us give thanks.
Psalm 118:24
This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Romans 11:36
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
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