Skip to main content

Reclaiming My Time

Okay...so the phrase "reclaiming my time" has become an internet sensation since Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) uttered it several times during Sec. Mnuchin's testimony on July 27, 2017. If you haven't seen it, please take a moment to do so.

Trust me, I enjoyed that immensely...and then I started thinking about the spiritual aspect of that statement. My most recent blog post Perfect Progression got a lot of reactions. Most of them were positive. A few people contacted me privately to share their own stories and/or ask questions. The thing people wanted most to know was how I was able to forgive myself.

Before the Maxine Waters video, I did not have the phrase for it. Now I do. I reclaimed my time. The Lord showed me in His word (Ephesians 5:15-17) that the time I wasted being devoted to the wrong person had to be reclaimed and more importantly, that I shouldn't waste more time beating myself up for what was already done.

See, what I learned was that God gets no glory from continuous self-condemnation. In fact, there is no possibility of a person being productive for the kingdom of God when s/he wallows in self-pity and self-condemnation. This is not to say that we ought to be proud of our misdeeds and trespasses. Rather, it is the simple acceptance that we have transgressed, repentance for the transgression, and then letting God's grace and mercy restore us. After restoration, it is time to reclaim (or redeem) the time.

What does reclaiming the time look like? For me, it meant that I had to use my experience to be a cautionary tale to other similarly situated young women. It meant using the pain of the aftermath to encourage people who are going through their own hell. It meant being more understanding and gracious to people who have made their own mistakes.

Reclaiming my time has been inconvenient for me. I have had to be vulnerable in ways that I would rather avoid. I have had to lay my life bare before other individuals just to explain that I can empathize with them. And still, reclaiming my time has been the most rewarding period in my Christian journey.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ride or Die

I love this phrase. There are quite a few subtle variations on the meaning, but it is an urban colloquialism that means loyalty, no matter what. I thank God that I have been blessed with a few people that have that kind of loyalty to me and I to them. It's a rich blessing that have true friends. They are with me and in my corner no matter what (or "regardless of what" as one of them would say). This week we had Vacation Bible School at my church and I was privileged to be a teacher. The first lesson was taken from Daniel chapter three. The very well known story of the three Hebrew boys: Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego. It is a wonderful story of faith, but something jumped out at me so profoundly that it almost knocked me over. We always focus on the deliverance. But the Hebrew boys did not. Their focus was on God and Him alone. They were ride or die for the Lord. Literally. If you read the story, they never once pray for deliverance. They talk about God's a...
2 comments
Read more

Rocks, Gravel, Sand and Water

Let me first start by saying that I cannot take credit for the following example, as I did not originate it. In fact, I was listening to Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah and I was so touched by what he shared that I thought I would share it with all of you. Let's say I have a large, empty 5-gallon jar. If I place fist sized rocks into the jar until no more can fit, is it full? Before you answer, let me say that after I place the rocks in the jar, I pick up a bag of gravel and begin to pour that into the jar. Where does the gravel go? In between the spaces left by the rocks. After I fill the jar to the brim with gravel, is it full? Before you answer, consider this: I pour a bag of sand into the jar. Where does the sand go? Into the spaces left by the gravel, of course. After filling the jar to the brim with sand, is it full? Before you answer, consider this: I pour a pitcher of water into the same jar. Where does the water go? Into the spaces between the grains of sa...
2 comments
Read more

When God Says No...

Two things are certain: God is able and God is sovereign. The problem is that His ability and His sovereignty don't always work together. Sometimes His sovereignty overrules His ability and though He can do something on our behalf, He doesn't because it is not His will. That is the hardest thing to accept for us as Christians. Most times, our faith wanes not because we don't think He is able, but because we assume that just because He is able, He is also willing. Unfortunately, in a lot of instances His sovereign will causes Him to refuse to do something that He was more than able to do. If we look at Paul, we see a great example of that. Paul had a "thorn in the flesh" and besought the Lord three times to remove it. God never did. Not because He wasn't able, but because there was a purpose to Paul's thorn in the flesh that would benefit Paul more than the removal of the "thorn" (see 2 Cor. 12:7-10). This is something that I am li...
2 comments
Read more