Don’t Kill the Time

When I was a child, I once asked my great-grandmother when she was born. She replied, “I don’t know the exact date. My parents told me I was born on a night of heavy rain, thunder, and lightning.”

Today, that answer may seem incomplete. We expect a year, a month, a day, and perhaps even the exact hour. But she came from a different time. People remembered seasons, harvests, feast days, storms, and special moments shared with others.

Today, our phones tell us the exact time, remind us where to go, and even tell us how long it will take to get there. Yet although we measure time more precisely than ever, we may not always experience it deeply.

German psychologist Erich Fromm once observed, “Modern man thinks he loses something—time—when he does not do things quickly. Yet he does not know what to do with the time he gains—except kill it.”

That is often true. We save time with faster phones, faster travel, faster meals, and faster communication. Then we spend the time we saved scrolling through our phones. We fill every quiet moment with noise because silence makes us uncomfortable.

Lord Jesus Christ had only three years of public ministry, yet He was never in a hurry. He stopped for the blind man calling from the roadside. He welcomed children when others tried to send them away. He sat at the table with His disciples. He also went to quiet places to pray.

Lord Jesus showed us that a meaningful life is not about speed. It is about being fully present. Time is not something to kill. Time is holy ground where God waits to meet us.

Perhaps today we need to slow down and notice what God has already placed before us: the person sitting across the table, the friend who needs a phone call, the beauty outside our window, or the prayer quietly rising in our heart.

My great-grandmother may not have known the exact date of her birth, but she remembered the rain. Perhaps there was wisdom in her answer. Life is not measured only by the minutes that pass, but by the moments we truly receive.

“Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time” (Ephesians 5:15–16)