Running Out of Time or Running Toward Goals?

Last fall I attended a workshop at the Highlights Foundation in the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania. It took most of the day to fly there, but it was something I had dreamed of doing for fifteen years. As a writer with a soft spot for children’s books and poetry, the Highlights Foundation was at the top of my list of “dream workshops” to attend.

Needless to say, after fifteen years I was beginning to think I was running out of time. Beginning to wonder if I would ever get there or if, perhaps, it was time for me to bid that dream goodbye.

As I studied 2 Thessalonians with Beth Moore yesterday, I was struck by a comment she made regarding time and how we, on earth, tend to think that we’re running out of time as we rush from one thing to the next. Unlike us, however, when speaking of time in biblical terms, Beth said that time is “Telic,” meaning the movement or working TOWARD a goal. Working toward what God foreordained before the beginning of time.

That puts a whole new spin on my understanding of time and the many goals and dreams I have for my life. Do you often feel the same way I felt throughout the fifteen years I waited and dreamed of attending a Highlights Foundation workshop with two best selling authors as instructors? Do you feel like you run so fast you hardly have time to process or celebrate the last accomplishment before you’re dashing off to begin a new project or goal?

If you tend to run in the fast lane like I do, often wondering if you’re running out of time, be encouraged. Our racing might not be the healthiest way to live daily life. We all need a Sabbath break on Sunday. But, if we consider that we are racing TOWARD our goals and dreams, TOWARD the time of Jesus’ Second Coming, then we are right on track.

We were all created with specific purposes in mind. Specific gifts and talents to share with the world and a preordained timeframe in which to accomplish them. Like Paul, I pray that we all run our race toward the prize to which we have been called heavenward in Christ Jesus. The prize, of course, is eternity in heaven with Jesus. Until we reach that ultimate goal, may we trust that we will never run out of time if we are running our race with God, Whose timing is always perfect.