Wisdom on time from Hootie and the Blowfish

For one single day of high school, I was absolutely certain I was the coolest kid in school.

It was my freshman year, and the night before my big brother had picked me up to take me to a Hootie and the Blowfish concert.

I was wearing my brand new Hootie t-shirt to school — an earthy pale green and three sizes too big because it was what was left at the Hootie swag shop after the concert.

I knew the words to every song before that night, but afterwards, the music was forever etched in my memory as special and precious. Love is so often spelled Time.

Among the hits that topped the charts that year and made the concert line-up, one’s lyrics have echoed in my mind in the (ahem, many) years since. They’re from the song very aptly named, Time.

Time, why you punish me?

Like a wave bashing into the shore

You wash away my dreams.

Time, why you walk away?

Like a friend with somewhere to go

You left me crying

Can you teach me about tommorrow

And all the pain and sorrow

Running free?

Cause tomorrow’s just another day

And I don’t believe in time

The song carries on to say:

Time, you left me standing there

Like a tree growing all alone

The wind just stripped me bare, stripped me bare

Time, the past has come and gone

The future’s far away

Now only lasts for one second, one second  

If you take a walk through Proverbs 20, you’ll discover the theme of time woven through several verses. A tiny tick-tick-tick as a backdrop to the meaning.

If you don’t plow at the right time, you won’t have anything to harvest at harvest time. (v. 4) 

The thoughts in a man’s heart are deep waters — but they can be drawn out, so to speak, with time. (v. 5)

An inheritance claimed too soon will not be blessed at the end. (v. 21) and The glory of young men is their strength, gray hair the splendor of the old. (v. 29)

So I’m processing time this week — the time I’ve been given, how I’ve used it, how I’ve failed to use it wisely. 

People love to say “time is money” — but I know which one I can get more of. 

So there are just two simple thoughts I want to give you to ponder this week, regarding time:

1. You can trust God with the days of your life. 
   If looking back on past mistakes is hard, if you feel like that tree Hootie described, standing bare, give those mistakes to God. He truly can redeem time. He can make our mistakes glorious by turning them into something beautiful. Trust Him with your regrets, just like you trust Him with your hopes and prayers.
2. While You Number Those Days, Give Careful Thought to How You Use Them 
   Think about five years from now, think about ten. What do you want to be true? Our thoughts might plan our way, but God can order our steps. Ask for help to make today’s decisions, with the awareness that they can have such a beautiful impact on your tomorrow.

The t-shirt is long gone, the ticket stub forgotten. But the memory of my big brother taking that time: why does it remain so many years later?

Loving people in meaningful ways — our family, our neighbors, even strangers in our community — this is the most powerful way to open up our wallet-full of months and years, pull out the currency of hours and minutes, and spend it most wisely.

Here’s to loving people well with our time this week, friends. Hootie said it well: Now only lasts for one second, one second.

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