Sometimes you just don’t have time.

I certainly am not knowledgeable about all the Jewish traditions during this month. If I had been born into a Jewish family I would have been taught from a young child to understand exactly what all the practices mean. I’m an adopted child of God; and so very thankful for my gift of salvation. But I’m privileged to read about the significance of the Passover documented in the Bible in Exodus 12.

As I was enjoying my time this morning beginning my prayers with the instruction when we come to pray, is to first pray for all those in authority (1 Timothy 2: 1-3) and (Psalm 122:6 ) Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.

My mind began to drift, as it often does, which I hate, so when the picture of how the Israelites were supposed to eat the Passover meal was described in detail along with how the meal was to be prepared I began to think about these things.

I love to cook. I’m a novice bread maker. I’ve tried my hand at making yeast bread several times. I could eat yeast bread every day, all day if possible. I recently went on Keto and if you know anything about Keto—bread is a no-no unless you use different flour. (I digress.)

See how my mind drifts? My point is, I wondered why they were instructed not to use any yeast. Again, please anyone reading this who has a much better handle on the tradition, forgive my lack of knowledge.

What came to my mind as to why the lack of yeast was stated was that it takes time for bread to rise when it has yeast in it. Usually, an hour or so and then a second rise time. Everything in the 12th chapter of Exodus lends itself to being prepared for a quick exit.

My mind also drifted over to the latest news about the Baltimore Bridge accident and the loss of lives. I kept trying to bring my mind back to some sort of order of thought but in some way, it all began to come together.

As I prayed for the individuals lost in this accident, probably like most of us I couldn’t help but think that these men had absolutely no idea that anything of this magnitude would happen to them as they headed to their jobs. Then I thought about the time it takes for yeast to rise or other things that sometimes take the time that we don’t have.

The Israelites didn’t have time for bread to rise. They needed bread that could also be carried without spoilage I assume. I don’t know of any person who hasn’t at some time in their life needed more time. It’s said that time is one of the things we’ll never have enough of or ever get back.

As I have gotten older that has become more evident to me every day. I spent a lot of my time on things that didn’t really matter. Time, that now I wish I had back. One thing that time hopefully gives each of us is wisdom. Sometimes it’s too little too late. And sadly we do finally wise up but have run out of time. No one knows exactly when that time will be. As we see, we can be going about the most common everyday activity and have no idea that time is about to run out.

When I sat and gathered all the threads of my thoughts today I paused to take the time to be thankful for everything in my life. I always try to do this because when I compare my life to that of others; I have nothing to be unthankful about. I am a blessed person.

When I went through a health problem over a year ago and the pace of my life came to a halt by the interruption, I remember saying to myself and others, that when this time of my life was over I would appreciate the return to even the smallest routine of my day and take nothing for granted. I saw other people who were walking the same path as I was who had different outcomes. Sitting in a waiting room you hear conversations of all types. The ones that were hardest to listen to were people complaining about such insignificant things when there were people who would have given anything to have their everyday routine back.

This post might have felt all over the place, so I’ll try to tie it together with the pictures in my mind. I saw the Israelites, clothed, and packed, standing as they had been instructed in preparation for the journey ahead of them. Laying aside anything that would take more time than they had to prepare. I saw images of people who have had to recently flee their homes, usually with nothing but clothes on their backs because of weather or other sudden events in my area. I looked at my own life and took stock of what could be considered—yeast.

I’m prepared to grab a suitcase that contains all my important papers, a set of clothing, extra medications, a cherished Bible, and money if the fire alarm goes off in my senior apartment building. But the most important event that I am prepared for is when my time runs out; I’ve already made that preparation, and there will be nothing I have to grab.

One final thought; never ignore the urgencies in life. Those thoughts that interrupt your day that later on you wish that you hadn’t ignored.

I hope that you will take some of the time you have right now to read Matthew chapter 24 very thoughtfully. Maybe it's things that you already know and will be blessed by the reminder or maybe it will be the first time you have taken the time to do so.

I pray that what you have read here will cause you to “drift” off from your thoughts to something you didn’t expect to think about today that will change your life.

I bless you.