You have reservations

I’m not sure we realize this but our lives are booked for life. People, television, sickness, work, activities, church, household chores, social media, and so much more reserve our time. Some are expected, necessary, and arranged; others are unnecessary and infringe on valuable time. Those that infringe on our time are robbers and intruders. I know it’s hard to believe robbers, intruders, and decepticons have access to your life; they’ve had access for quite some time now. They’ve reserved your time for their use for so long that you haven’t given thought to the fact that your dreams, visions and goals are delayed because of their reservations on your time.   

I’m Not Booked

You’re probably in disbelief thinking, “my life is not booked.” But can you recall a time someone reserved your time and the day expired without you getting to your own “to do” list? Can you recall a time when you attempted to complete a project very important to you and it didn’t happen within the time you set because others were constantly interrupting your time for their activities? Your own project took much longer than you’d planned. They are bookings.

They Robbed Me

Some people are famous for infringing on the time of others. As much as I love this familiar scripture, “This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it,” I can think of some days where the moments in the day that God gave me were given to someone else to attend to their business and it left me feeling some kind of way. I had been robbed of time that belonged to me. When criminals engage in robberies, they take jewelry, money, electronics, and other stuff. When robbers take valuable time from you, they take more than time, they take dreams, goals, personal development, wealth and even destiny from you. It’s not a rejoicing matter when your life has been put on hold or as some would say, on the back burner, because of others who conclude that you are at their beck and call.

People Book Our Time

Don’t get me wrong….none of this relate to family emergencies and the things we make arrangements to do for loved ones. Those are our prerogatives and it’s up to us to determine whether their infringements are valid. I’ve had to infringe on the time of family members and they’ve infringed on my time. They were for honest reasons. But those situations where people have made it a regular event, do the homework, go into detective mode, and make a determination as to the validity of each case. You may have to stand up to the folks that inconvenience you to keep from inconveniencing themselves. If you say “no” they will find a way to make things happen without you. Handle your business but in a sweet, kind, and Christian way! If you don’t, people will continue to book your time. Here’s my point, bookings are real. Bookings hinder our progress. Bookings have ruined lives. Some marriages have ended in divorce because one spouse booked (reserved) too much time with a friend of the opposite sex.

People book our time, but that’s not the extent of bookings. We book our time, too, with non productive things, events, and activities. Cancel these type of reservations on your time. They will deprive you of life…..abundant life.

Cancel These Reservations

• Sickness and disease. They are criminals. Thieves with a mission. They’ve taken time from people who intended to achieve and succeed in life. They’ve killed a lot of goals and dreams. They’re intruders on property that belongs to God. They slow you down. They make you weak and sluggish. They are bookings that need to be cancelled as much as possible. Recently, I was in conversation with a fellow church member who had developed the sciatica condition. She mentioned she was in a lot of pain and could not do anything for herself. Her activities were limited because of the condition. However, one day, the pain was so great and unbearable that she said these words to God, “God, not tomorrow, not tonight but right now!” She said at that moment, she felt electricity flow through her body and she knew she was healed. That was four years ago from 2018 and she’s been free since then.  

 

• Television. How many days have you sat in front of a television for hours entertained by shows of no spiritual or personal value? Many of us can raise our hands. Cancel these reservations. Now, that’s not to say you have to stop watching television, but one day you will regret your decision to spend so much of your time watching shows of no real benefit to you. Life is like a vapor. It’s here today and gone tomorrow. Everyday given to you from God is a gift to be used wisely and productively.

 

• Emotional dysfunction. Some believers bask in sadness, depression, loneliness, and other negative emotions and miss out on a great future because they will not get healed of their brokenness. They spend valuable time lamenting over past hurts and make no real effort to get up and move forward in life. Some have a pity party for days and weeks at a time. Cancel these reservations. 

 

• Disorganization. This is big on time infringement. I think about how I used to do this over and over again. I used to go through postal mail and emails for hours at a time. When I really thought about things, I couldn’t help but see all I needed was some “organization” in my life. I know I am not the only one whose email account grew to over 12,000 unread emails. If we would take time to organize our databases, our time, and whatever else we need to organize, we would free ourselves for other productive things. Cancel these types of bookings, they are big time wasters.

 

• Social Media. I can’t forget this one. This is a booking whether we want to admit it or not. For some, it’s an addiction. I’m not saying there’s nothing positive about social media because there is but we need to be attentive to how much time we devote to social media at any given time. It’s a booking that needs to be controlled if it’s keeping you from progressing to your best life. I believe God would love to see us spend more time with Him and in His Good Book than we spend on social media. 

Non-Cancelled Bookings

God instructs us to redeem the time because the days are evil. Shootings, fatal car crashes, and other evil tragedies happen too often. We don’t know the number of our days so it’s just wise to make positive choices regarding our time. Much of what we are accustomed to giving time to has to be cancelled. You may have to say “no” to what you have said “yes” to time after time. Take a page from Mary’s life when she chose the good part. She said “no” to Martha, her sister. Martha was a good hostess but Mary recognized she needed to hear Jesus or miss out on His good teachings. I am convinced that many of the bookings on our time cause us to miss out on good things in life too because we won’t say “no” to them….even the ones that appear to be valid bookings.

Some of the bookings we permit affect us in the same way a traveler is affected when they book a night at a hotel that’s filled with roaches and rats and rude front desk personnel. They leave frustrated, angry, mad, and even feeling deprived. The above robbers and intruders will have you feeling the same way……angry, frustrated, mad, and deprived of life. If you ever take back your time, and begin using it wisely, you won’t regret your decision! 

My Reservations

When I was on the verge of completing the development of this website, I had both expected and unexpected bookings. I had a deadline for completing the website but it did not happen. Revival was going on at church….one of the expected bookings. A church member transitioned to heaven….that consumed some of my time. I came down with a cold and feeling sluggish. The day of the funeral, I leave the church and realize my tire pressure is dangerous low. My Mom wants to stop to the store so I stop. By the time she comes out my tire pressure is “11” and I need to go from one city to another to get to the tire repair shop that I was familiar with. My mother and I were praying like crazy. When I arrived in the parking lot of the repair shop, my tire went totally flat. God is GOOD! I spent over two hours in that shop. But I had my materials with me and I was able to use that time to do proofreading. The next day, I had an arranged booking to take a family member to an appointment. I used that time to proofread materials too. The next day, I become aware that was my car was involved in a “hit and run” while parked and I had to take care of that. My point is that unexpected reservations are going to happen. It’s one of the reasons we need to deal with the unfruitful reservations we place on our own time. 

Book Your Own Reservations

In summary, there will always be reservations on our time for accomplishing things pertinent to others. Some will be unexpected. Many will be expected and especially if you have children and grandchildren. You can’t cancel those bookings! I have a two year old nephew and he’s a good booking when he visits! Since we will have both expected and unexpected bookings on our time, it’s wise to make good use of our time. Become organized. Set aside time to deal with the bookings that need to be cancelled. Start doing things booked by you instead of permitting others who are taking advantage of you to book your time. Call your siblings and get them involved with caring for family members instead of doing it by yourself.

Since you are going to be booked for life, let it be some of your own bookings. Reserve your time for you and begin living your best life!