As a single gal, I get to plan and schedule my time however I prefer. There are no kid sports practices to work around or work obligations to plan in for my spouse’s job. Sure, I have nieces and nephews’ events to attend and plenty of work-related obligations that require my time even outside of regular working hours, but when it comes down to it, I decide how each time chunk of my day is spent. 

Also, as a single gal, I’m fully aware that when my plans for my time go askew because of some unforeseen interruption, I can quickly get selfishly cranky. For example…

I remember one work day not long ago when nothing was going my way. For starters, all of the work-related tasks I was aiming to complete were consuming more time than anticipated. Then, several interruptions snuck into my day. They weren’t necessarily bad things, but they were unexpected intrusions on my time nonetheless. One interruption was a former student who stopped by to visit! Of course, I loved chatting with her for a while, but in the back of my mind I was lamenting the fact that I wasn’t checking anything off my unusually long to-do list of the day. On top of that, my classroom had some time consuming technical issues, and our staff meeting after school went way longer than it typically does. Things just weren’t going my way because it happened to be a day when I had an unusually large number of built-up tasks that needed to be completed. As the day went on, and my productivity was stalled over and over again, my patience got thinner and my mindset creeped more and more toward negativity and annoyance. Again and again, my time was being sucked into spaces and places where I did not intend for it to be that day. Finally, at the end of the day, I decided to reward myself for surviving the long, exhausting day and drive through Dairy Queen for a blizzard. And guess what? DQ’s blizzard-making machine was broken. Ugh. 

In this ownership-celebrated world, it’s easy, fulfilling and even empowering to focus on the idea that I own my life and my time. But I was reminded recently that I actually own nothing. “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,” Psalm 24:1 opens with, and that includes my precious time. 

Have you read C. S. Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters?” I finally picked up this well-known book and read it recently, and I noticed my jaw literally dropping to the ground more than once as Lewis opened my eyes and my mind through his writing. In case you’re unfamiliar, “The Screwtape Letters” is a set of letters written from Uncle Screwtape, a “senior devil,” to his nephew, Wormwood, a novice demon in training. Wormwood has been assigned to his own “Patient,” a recent convert to Christianity who the young demon is trying to lure and pull back away from Christ. Written in satire, the book gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at how Satan and his minions might be plotting and planning temptations and attacks against unsuspecting victims. Their goal is to lure people into worldly mindsets, habits and practices, thus inching them further and further from Jesus and closer and closer toward an eternity in hell. 

One chapter that especially convicted me was about this idea that I own my time. Uncle Screwtape instructs his young apprentice to work on persuading his Patient to “zealously guard in his mind the curious assumption ‘My time is my own.’ Let him have the feeling that he starts each day as the lawful professor of twenty-four hours of time,” Uncle Screwtape says. Throughout this letter, Screwtape is explaining to Wormwood how he can try to persuade his Patient that any interruption or deviance from his self-set schedule is an intrusion and simply preposterous. 

Have you ever had this happen? I know I have. I’ve had unexpected circumstances sneak into my day that get me all frustrated and frazzled because it stops my own plans from proceeding as previously purposed. But Lewis’ satire letter about humanity’s incorrect notions about time ownership reminds us that we are actually the proud owners of nothing at all. 

The man can neither make, nor retain, one moment of time; it all comes to him by pure gift; he might as well regard the sun and moon as his chattels (Lewis 112). 

Lewis goes on here, speaking in satire of “Our Father,” Satan, and “the Enemy,” who is God in this piece of literary irony.

And all the time the joke is that the word ‘Mine’ in its fully possessive sense cannot be uttered by a human being about anything. In the long run either Our Father or the Enemy will say ‘Mine’ of each thing that exists, and specially of each man. They will find out in the end, never fear, to whom their time, their souls, and their bodies really belong—certainly not to them, whatever happens (Lewis 114). 

So when the world tempts you to think you own your time, remind yourself that everything in your life is a generous gift from God. Your family, your job, your friends, your financial resources, your passions, your interests, and even your time. If you start each day remembering that every little thing is a gift, you will be better equipped to live in generosity and flexibility. You will be more readily able to hold things loosely. Consider these words from Psalm 24:

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.

Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god.

They will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God their Savior. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, God of Jacob. 

Lift up your heads, you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is he, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty—he is the King of glory. -Psalm 24