Time never expands but the things we do often expand to take up more time than we think.

We can’t add to time, but we can plan less so that we end up with time to spare.

But really, who does that? Not many people. Most people run late because they try to do more than they can get done in the time given them.

We think we can do things in “X” amount of time but most often we miscalculate, or something interrupts to eat away at the time we have.

It’s sort of like cracks on the road. Water gets in them and then freezes. The frozen water expands, overfills the crack and eventually breaks up the pavement, creating potholes.

That’s what happens to our time. It’s like a crack that gets filled up but then whatever fills it expands past the time we have.

The other day I was working on a project that I gave the whole day to. I finished the main part of the project well under the time I had allotted.

But after the main part was finished, there were other parts of the project that also needed to be done, like PowerPoint presentations, online notes, and presentation notes.

I had a lot of time to get them done by the end of the day though. So I was feeling pretty good about myself. I felt like the pressure was off and I might even surprise my wife, Lily, by getting home early.

But later in the afternoon things started to expand. I also didn’t account for my drop in energy so I wasn’t accomplishing tasks at the same rate I had been in the morning.

But worse than that, one task expanded to fill up the time I had left. I never saw it coming. I never accounted for it.

I was in the the last stages of my afternoon. I don’t usually listen to music while I work because it’s a distraction to me; I think better when it’s quiet.

But the work I was doing didn’t require much thinking, mostly performing rote tasks that I have been doing each week for years.

So I turned some music on. Sure it would slow me down, but I still had lots of time, more time than I needed … until I couldn’t find a picture I wanted for my presentation.

I looked and looked and it literally took a half hour to find the picture I needed. And then I only found it by fluke in my email trash bin.

That one little thing had expanded past my allotted time. When I left for home, I still had one task undone; I hadn’t even started it.

Time doesn’t change, and though we plan and organize our day to live within the confines of the time we have, things seem to expand to the point that they overwhelm our time.

Here’s the thing: What I have also found true is that when you take time to worship God, your worship expands to overfill the time you set aside for it. This happens because you are relating and dialoging with the Lord, and good relationships take time – often more than we realize. So whatever time you set aside for God, know that if you are truly developing your relationship, you will eventually have to increase the time you allot for God.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What expands to fill up your time more than anything else? Leave your comments below.