Taking back time

We are only given 60 minutes in each hour
24 hours in each day
7 days in each week
and minutes tick on
and hours flash past
days and weeks hurry on
and it feels like life just slips away...

Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered— how fleeting my life is.You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand.My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath. Psalm 39:4-5 NLT

The beginning of a new year is useful as a time to reflect and pray and plan, a time to put aside bad habits replacing them with something better.  I pondered ways I could take back fleeting time and decided to take a break from playing computer games.

This should have been easy, but habits grow deep.  It felt like my fingers wanted to press keyboard keys, and without a tight reign on my hands I would have clicked to open game boards without even thinking.

It has been more than a month.  I have more time to read, more time to write, more time for real connection with the people God places in my path.  I can't say I don't miss the games, or that I won't ever return to a bit of play now and then, but I am rejoicing that I have moved beyond the automatic, mindlessness of habitual play.

I can't add a minute to the time God has portioned for me, but I can choose to use what He has given in ways that best bring glory to His name.

linking up with Peter today as we talk about habits

 

What do you do for fun??

People in my family all seemed to enjoy playing games of one sort or another.  My mother gathered weekly with other women to play mahjong, my father and his father played pinochle, my grandmother played a card game called Kaluki with her girlfriends. 

I know I loved the board game Chutes and Ladders when I was very young, mostly because I imagined what it would feel like if the chutes (slides) were real.  I loved spending the night at my great aunt Ruthie's place because she would teach me double solitaire, stopping only for snacks or ice cream, playing until late into the night.

My oldest brother had a group of friends who used our apartment as a hangout - playing endless games of Hearts.  Soon the whole family caught the habit.

Games were an easy and free way to pass the time.

In the years of my growing up and growing away I thought that games were boring and mundane, somehow beneath me.  I had no time for them as I chased after wilder and more dangerous activities.  As I jumped into all that the world had to offer, alcohol, drugs and promiscuity, I thought I was finally having big fun.

I remember a conversation with the man that God chose to soften my heart and lead me into the safety of Christ's arms. I knew nothing at all about Christian life and  I asked him with great sarcasm:  "What do you people do for fun, play board games?"  I just could not imagine how I could continue to enjoy life if I gave up my reckless pursuits. Yet give them up I did, surrendering them to Jesus along with my heart. 

With the sense of humour and irony that only the Lord could possess, I have come full circle.  My husband and I spend many wonderful evenings with friends, with hours lost in Settlers of Catan or the Farming Game.  I have become what I was most afraid of and in so doing, I have never found more joy.

Join us at Peter Pollock's as we talk about games.