…what to do with the time that is given us.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I wonder about my life and the way things have turned out. When life gets difficult or mundane or when we simply end up reflecting on our lives, we can end up wishing things had gone differently.

We may think of situations, encounters, episodes in our own lives that happened just yesterday, a few days, weeks, or even months ago or maybe some years ago and wish things had not happened quite as they did or even at all.

Just like Frodo, the brave and courageous hobbit in the Lord of the Rings who told his companion Gandalf that he wished he had not been given the powerful ring and wished that all the difficulties they were facing had never happened.

I find Gandalf’s reply to Frodo extremely insightful, and helpful for my own life. When Frodo said to Gandalf that he had wished none of the events relating to the ring had happened, Gandalf replies:

So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.

There is some real wisdom in this from Gandalf the Wizard who is pointing out that we don’t always get to choose what happens in life, but we can control what we do in situations.

This reminds me of a biblical verse that I have memorised:

‘making the most of the time because the days are evil.’ (Ephesians 5:16)

These days are evil, full of darkness -sinfulness, immorality, brokenness. We need, like Frodo, to do what we are supposed to do in our own lifetimes. We can’t always decide what happens in life, how people will behave towards us, our family or friends and we can’t decide the outcome of so much that goes on in this world. But we can decide what we will do, how we will respond.

I choose to follow Jesus, as He says:

I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.

Jo