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Viewpoint from Jane Walters 26/07/2024
 Jane Walters
Jane Walters, is the author of Too Soon, a mother’s journey through miscarriage (SPCK) and a regular contributor to Premier Radio and UCB. She leads creative writing retreats and is a popular speaker locally and further afield. Visit: janewyattwalters.com
I’ve been thinking a lot about time lately. This has been no idle contemplation borne of having lots of it on my hands. In fact, the opposite is true. The last four months have been a far-too-intense period of activity, driven by deadlines and, if I’m honest, rather too long a to-do list. Even a delightful fortnight away with friends and loved ones was punctuated by hours of slipping away quietly to write
 Google tells me we have the gift of 86400 seconds every single day. Imagine if they were pounds (or even pennies) – we would be as rich as kings! Does it make you feel you have all the time in the world? Or does that little hand on our watch- or clock-faces put us under pressure as it relentlessly marches around?
The fact is, currency aside, the gift of time ranks among the most important we can receive. Those 24 hours (or 1440 minutes) are a fresh offering of grace to us. The Bible says that God’s mercies are ‘new every morning’ (Lamentations 3:22). Just as the Israelites received a fresh supply of manna in the wilderness, we don’t need to rely on yesterday’s stale portion. We can consciously draw on that thought as we begin each day. We might be feeling jaded and unrefreshed, even after a night’s sleep, but we can pray for God’s supernatural intervention.
One way I have experienced God’s mercy around time is in His lack of condemnation when I have wasted it. Imagine if I had given my child a vast amount of money and had to watch them spend it on worthless tat or worse. I would want to interfere, to point out their lack of wisdom, but would have to remind myself that I had gifted it to them – the aftermath was up to them
Likewise, God has given us all these precious minutes and must be rolling His eyes as we mindlessly scroll through social media or linger too long in bed. How gracious He is that He allows us that fresh start each dawn, our sins not only forgiven but forgotten!
And let’s not forget God’s wonderful provision of Sabbath: not a rule-laden, joy-deprived ‘thou shalt not’ kind of day, but a weekly invitation to lay down all that has wearied us and simply rest
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