Janie B. Cheaney: The gift of time

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, January 7th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Up next, WORLD Commentator Janie B Cheaney on what “living in the moment” really means.

JANIE B CHEANEY: At a chilly Sunday-evening worship, years ago, our pastor preached on a theme borrowed from his own grandfather’s sermon notes dated 1949—before most of us were even born.

The future, he said, is like a dense veil, so thick we can’t even see what the next minute holds. I played with that figure of speech. Maybe the future was more like a fog, where we can form a reasonable picture of the next days and weeks, but the more distant times are shrouded in mystery. Ghostly shapes rear up out there, the shapes of our children, grandchildren, friends, and foes, yet unmet.

Or not. For in every sliver of the future lurks the sudden shift. One minute can change everything.

It could have changed for me on my way to church that very evening. I was traveling north on my usual route. The church building was in view, two blocks ahead. At a moderate speed—though perhaps a tad faster than I should have been driving—I cruised through the last intersection and, glancing up, noticed that the light was red.

In one endless second: a screaming glare of headlights to the left, just before the force of a 300 horsepower engine burrows into my side. Or an outraged blare of horn as a pickup truck strikes my rear bumper and spins me like a top. Or the sputter and whine of a police siren as a cop swivels his blue light and pulls me over. Me feeling—or perhaps looking—like a crumpled wad of paper in my new coat that was such a great deal and made me so happy for a while.

[PAUSE] No, none of that happened. My hands flew up from the wheel, as though horrified, and my wandering mind snapped back to attention with all kinds of oh-nos and what-ifs and promises never to do that again.

It was a good experience from that perspective, a smart crack of the whip to a mind too prone to wander. I could have slammed into my future at 40 mph, loading it with consequences for my immediate family. The tremors would have shaken out to friends, church members, and business associates, all rallying to assist me or do without me.

A single moment can change everything.

Moses wrote, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” I try to do that with every sunrise God gives me, knowing their number is limited. My times are in His hands. I need not fear the veil that hides my future; even a careless instant with dreadful results He can work out for good.

But be careful not to shove “He can” in front of “I will.”

My continuing resolution: Pay attention. Not to constantly grill myself on how I’m using the time, but to remain aware of time’s potential for good or evil. It’s moment by moment that things happen, that the Spirit moves, that lives begin and end. God orders my days, but I’m accountable for my minutes.

I’m Janie B Cheaney.

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