GRANDPAUSE: “Be careful, then, how you live – not as unwise, but as wise – making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” (Eph. 5:15-16)

Perhaps you remember the 2008 TV commercial about ‘rollover minutes’ on a cell phone plan. A mother and her teenage son engaged in an oddly familiar conversation most of us have had with our own children/grandchildren. Only this wasn’t about wasting food. In this case the mother chides her son about throwing away previously unused minutes saying, “There are some people in the world who don’t have any minutes, you know.”

We may laugh at a commercial about some people not having ‘rollover minutes’, but the truth is everyone has an established number of minutes in life. What’s not funny is how we waste them. Time is a gift of God that cannot be reused. It’s one thing to talk about reusing minutes in a cell phone plan. It’s quite another to live in real time and realize that it’s impossible to save up the minutes of life. Lost time is lost opportunity. Which is why the Apostle Paul exhorts us to make the most of (literally; purchase) the time we have. So why do we waste so much of it?

Perhaps we forget that time is not pre-programmed for certain uses outside our control. Purchasing time means choosing to put it to its intended use. The “days are evil,” we are told. Failure to purchase the time we have been given for God’s purposes and glory means we lose that time for that purpose—forever. Death makes the purchase instead.

What significance does this have for us as grandparents? Let me suggest three orientations toward life that impact how we use our time:

1. A past orientation: Some people focus on nostalgia, family rituals, etc. Others who live in the past may focus on regrets, failures and the way things used to be. Either way, time is wasted away dwelling on things that were. Your grandchildren need to know your story, but they don’t want to live in the past.

2. A present orientation: Living for immediate pleasures or trying to avoid present pain is futile and empty. On the other hand, don’t become a fatalist who says there is no point in planning or pursuing dreams. Psychologist Philip Zimbardo believes that “all addictions are addictions of present hedonism: food, sex, drugs, gambling, etc.” In other words, those who live for present pleasures and sensations become addicts. Jesus said, “Where your treasure is there will your heart be also” (Matt. 6:21). What treasures do your grandchildren see controlling your life? Are they treasures you would want them to cherish as well?

3. A future orientation: Wise use of time requires an investment in the present with a view toward the future. Plan, but submit your plans to your Creator. Look to the future, but live in the moment as a conduit of God’s blessing. Opportunity is time-charged potential. Making the most of it means keeping both a present and future perspective in life. Show your grandchildren that living life with a view toward the future is the key to not being addicted to present desires and sensations.

A grasp of the value of time is something worth leaving our grandchildren—both in terms of the limited amount we have, and the urgency to use it well by discerning what the Lord’s will is.

How is the legacy you’re living reinforcing the value of this gift of time and helping them make the most of it? I’d like to hear some of the ways you model the wise use of time and opportunity for your grandchildren.