Saved Time (08/02/2024)

One of my favorite movies is “Sabrina” starring Harrison Ford and Julie Ormond. This morning, for some reason, I remembered the movie and one scene, in particular. It takes place on Linus’ plane when Sabrina questions him about how he uses all the time he saves. I think about all the “time saving” technology we have today, and I can’t help but ask the same question. What are we doing with all the time we’re saving?

Take yesterday at my home, for instance. I had honey nut cheerios for breakfast. No cooking, just eating. No pans to wash. And I simply stuck the bowl and spoon in the dishwasher. I didn’t need to fill the sink with soapy water, wash the dishes, and dry them. I saved 20 minutes. Then I did the laundry. The wet clothes went to the dryer. No need to hang them outdoors to dry or to iron them. I simply had to hang them up when the buzzer alerted me. I saved at least an hour. It was a big load. Then I worked on a newsletter for our condo association and sent it out. No need to retype to correct the errors. No need for addressing envelopes, printing the newsletter, folding it, and putting in the envelopes. I simply saved it as a PDF and e-mailed it using a group contact list. It took 2 minutes. I saved at least an hour there. And dinner was a time saving deal. The microwave zapped those baked potatoes in minutes rather than an hour in the stove.  

All toll, I think I saved about four hours yesterday thanks to modern technology. So how did I use those hours I saved?

How about you? Are you racking up saved minutes at an incredible rate, too? How are you using them?

Time is one of the wonderful gifts the LORD gives to us. Our earthly stewardship includes how we use that gift. Are we using it to grow in our relationship with the LORD through prayer and through service to others for His glory? Are we using it to reach out to our sisters and brothers in loving kindness? Are we taking time to send a card to a loved one who needs encouragement or to work at the local food pantry to help our sisters and brothers in Christ who need assistance at this time? Are we sharing our faith with others? Are we accompanying others along the way?

Let us not put off using what we have been given this day. Let us commit to using the time we’ve saved due to modern technology to doing good in our LORD’s name. Let us give more time to prayer and building our relationship with our LORD. Let us join a group at church that challenges us to live our faith more fully daily. Let us remember daily what our Savior did to save us and commit to using our time saved to further His ongoing mission.

Let us turn to the LORD and ask for guidance through the Spirit to use our “saved time” well.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.