My Time

Therefore we do not lose heart…for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Cor 4:16-18.

Frank is an anesthesiologist in town, in practice for many years. I visited his home this week to care for his father-in-law, bed-ridden from a malignancy. Frank’s wife, Becky, has been caring for her father night and day for over four months. There has been no break in their responsibility.


I knew that Frank had a vacation planned this week so I asked him how it was going.


“You’re looking at it,” he said. He grinned and added, “And my last vacation, I spent taking care of our six week old grandson while my daughter took a trip and Becky cared for her father.”


“Man, that’s rough,” I said.


“No, it’s not, “ he replied. “It’s just my time.”

All of us are either presently in “my time” or will someday get there.

“My time”, as Frank uses it, is just the opposite of the words spoken. “My time” to Frank means “my time to have no time for me” and “my time to take on the burden of life”, “my time to be responsible and endure until it is over.”

Many of the rest of us are in the midst of that just now:

“My time to care for aged parents” or

“My time to suffer the illnesses I see in my patients” or

“My time to be slammed financially” or

“My time to be worn out and alone” or

“My time to cry in the night for my kids” or

“My time for malpractice suit”

“My time” assumes that sometime even doctors get to be human, get to fit into the chaos of a fallen world. ”My time” asserts that “It’s okay; I understand that this is part of life” and “I will make it through the best I can”.

“My time” as a Christian means even more.

”My time” as a Christian means:

“It’s my time, but I am not alone.”

“It’s my time, and God has a purpose in this that is greater than my pain”

“It’s my time, and God is working out his purpose through me.”

“It’s my time, and let the world see how a Christian does it.”

This is what it means for Frank and Becky; and when “my time” comes, I pray that it means the same for me.

Dear Father,
Thank you for leaving us in the world as part of the world to carry out your plan. Give me patience and trust when “my time” comes.
Amen