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Simply put, God gives us very few gifts.  But, like most gifts, it’s not really about the number of gifts but more about the quality.  The gift I’m going to focus on is his greatest gift: time.

Time is probably the most interesting gift God gives us.  If you think about it, it is an extremely finite resource.  Time is also the one thing we cannot control.  As much as we would like, we cannot turn back time, speed it up, or slow it down.  All of our days are numbered.  He knows to the microsecond when we will leave this world and enter the next.

Another interesting thing about time is that we cannot give our time to someone else: that is we cannot give someone two more weeks to live like we can give someone $200.  Time is measurable, but not tangible.  We cannot feel 30 minutes.  Of course, 30 minutes at the dentist’s office always feels longer than 30 minutes with great friends.  And no matter how much time you spend with them, it’s never enough.

I think too many people, Christians and those who aren’t, don’t see time in the way that God had intended.  Too quickly we say, “Oh, that’s something that I can do next week” or “I need to cancel because I need to do something else.”  Don’t get me wrong: there is responsibility when it comes to time management.

But I am suggesting is something far more simple.  Time is something we will never get back.  Unlike money, we can usually get a refund, earn more, and invest wisely (as far as God allows, of course).  When you look back on your day, how did you spend it?

Time is not something that we should throw away lightly.  It’s also something that we should joyfully share with others.  And when you do share it with others, make it meaningful.

After all, we only get once chance at it.  Make sure it matters.