Our Time?

Last night while sitting on the couch together, Bill and I saw an ad for Our Time, a dating site for singles over 50.  This particular ad featured an attractive couple expressing their desire to pretty much do what they wanted to do during this era of their lives.  I don’t think all of the Our Time ads carry quite the same message, but as this one finished, I said, “huh….sounds pretty self-centered.”  Bill replied, “I was just thinking the same thing.”

I guess when people have raised their families; they are supposed to have some time for themselves.  We still haven’t figured out how this is supposed to happen.  The needs of an elderly ailing parent, adult children and grandchildren tug at us on a daily basis.  We manage to steal little bits of time here and there for the two of us as a couple, but the needs of others swallow up big chunks of our days.

If someone had told me 46 years ago on our wedding day, what our lives would be like now, I would have thought the prophet had me mixed up with someone else.  I could not have imagined the full picture of both joys and sorrows.  However, the fact that there would be demands on our lives was not unexpected.

In June of 1968 about 2 weeks before our wedding, Bill arrived in the Chicago area a few days before my college graduation.  I had finished classes and had scored high enough on an earlier comprehensive exam, that I was exempt from taking any finals.  We drove down to Peoria where his sister and brother-in-law were living and spent a couple of days enjoying their company.  We returned to the Chicago area, and my parents arrived for graduation.  Bill began to act strangely.  I couldn’t put my finger on what was going on.  When I finally asked him, he said, “I don’t want to share you with anyone.”

After a few seconds of silence, I replied, “You do know don’t you that we are going to spend the rest of our lives having to share each other with the rest of the world.  Lots of people are going to want a piece of us.”

“I understand that,” he responded.  “It’s just that right now, I want you all to myself.”

We have worked at making time for just “us” over the years.  But, being able to work together in meeting the needs of others is also valuable for a couple.  I think of one time when a complicated family need caused Bill to say, “If you can figure out what to do, I will help you do it.”  Neither of us makes that statement regarding every issue that confronts us, but we both know that it expresses the underlying attitude of mutual support. 

Part of my favorite passage in the Bible is Isaiah 58:6-11

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

To loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke,

To set the oppressed free and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry

And to provide the poor wanderer with shelter,

When you see the naked, to clothe him,

And not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Then your light will break forth like the dawn,

And your healing will quickly appear;

Then your righteousness will go before you,

And the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

Then you will call and the Lord will answer;

You will cry for help, and he will say; Here am I.

If you do away with the yoke of oppression,

With the pointing of the finger and malicious talk,

And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry

And satisfy the needs of the oppressed.

Then your light will rise in the darkness,

And your night will become like the noonday.

The Lord will guide you always;

He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land

And will strengthen your frame.

You will be like a well-watered garden,

Like a spring whose waters never fail.

So... “Our Time” is not as important as “His Time.” 

What does God want of me today? 

What does God want of us today?