Make Every Second Count because Every Second Counts

As the year slowly draws to its end, it’s that time again when we look back at what has transpired for the past 12 months… 52 weeks… 365 days or in 2008’s case 366 days since it was a Leap Year. During these times, I make it a point to look back and make a checklist of things to thank God for. It was a looong year indeed, figuratively with all the highlights that happened in my life (my wedding, moving to a new place, going full time on a freelance career, our fertility challenges, just to name a few)
And as if that wasn’t enough to say that 2008 was a long year, it seems that this would also go down in history as the longest year since 1992 because the international consortium of timekeepers have decided to add an extra second to the world time. I didn’t even know that was possible. I was really amazed at it. (Read more about this Leap Second phenomenon here.)

This made me think more about my yearly thanksgiving reflection. Wow! Not only did God gave me a whole year to live, love and learn from… He even added an extra second to it.

One second… Most of us would never pay any attention to the value of a second. How could a second possibly be of any significance? How much could it change your life? Uhm… if you’re an avid watcher of the TV series Heroes just like me, you would understand how a mere second could blow up the world! Okay putting geeky science fiction and comic book metaphors aside, let me tell you why each second matters.

How do you differentiate these two phrases?
“Make every second count” VS “Every second counts”

It’s quite true that they could be taken separately with two different verbal meanings. The first one would be more of a call to action phrase – Telling us to use time efficiently… putting it to good use and making a difference at each moment of our lives.

The second would be more of a proverb; an adage… a phrase that’s filled with wisdom. In this case, it’s telling us that life is too short – That each moment; each action no matter how fleeting takes us to the next event. Time is a continuous chain. The seconds are the links. Each link when removed makes the chain shorter. Time has a domino effect. The seconds are the tiles. Each tile inevitably affects the next one as it falls down.

So have we made every second count this year?
Did we believe that every second we had in 2008 was counted?

Looking back at 2008, I asked myself these questions. I realized that the value of each second of our lives is based on our choices. I learned that these two phrases can actually go together in one sentence: “Make every second count because every second counts.” In other words, do things right because time is too short. Indeed our life is just borrowed time from the Lord and that’s why we have to make the most of it – in the right way… His way of course!

As I review the year that’s about to leave us, jarring scenes shake me. There were a lot of times when being a righteous Christian to my family was not only hard… It was impossible! I was surprised to learn that I still have hurts against my parents… that the sibling rivalries and squabbles I have with my sisters have not ended at all; and have not even lessened either. I don’t know why but my temper just really blows up at them. And in the end, I feel so rotten because I know that as a child of God; as a Christian I HAVE A CHOICE not to be consumed by sin. I know the Law of God and yet as a human being I am still a sinner.

This reminded me of Romans 7:15-19 “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate to do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good that I want to do; the evil that I do not want to do – this I keep on doing.”

I feel ashamed to be claiming that I am a Christian when my feelings for my family have not changed at all. I feel guilty knowing that I could have done better in my responses to the stresses that involved my family. Why did I still snap like a dried twig when I am supposed to be already nourished by the water of life – the word of God?

Ezekiel 36:26-27 says “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”

I know that when I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior, I have been cleansed of my old destructive ways through the Holy Spirit. So what happened? What went awry in my spirituality? I realized that I fell off the saddle because I didn’t keep in touch with the Holy Spirit EVERY SECOND.

We may not notice it at that exact moment but most of our mistakes are left-course decisions made at a split-second. That’s why we naturally regret doing the wrong things because these were all done haphazardly. And we make these blunders only because we weren’t in touch with the Spirit.

Being righteous through the Spirit requires work! Unfortunately, being spiritual is not a natural thing for mankind. In fact, it’s like a hyper-conscious state of mind. We are inherently sinful and to go by the Spirit’s ways is beyond our human earthly natural capacities – it is in fact supernatural. Mere mortals like us will not be able to do it EASILY. And that’s why every second counts in being spiritual. Thoughts, feelings and emotions are so quick to engulf us. Neurology would explain how messages are passed on to the brain in fractions of a second. And so how do we capture these destructive reflexes? It is only through the Spirit.

And so looking back at 2008, I realized that even if I was bent over God’s word – doing daily devotionals, attending small group bible studies, participating in ministries, not missing Sunday services – these were not even enough to protect me from my evil ways.

It will only take one second for us to fall into sin. It only took me a second to fail as a witness. We have to make every second count because every second counts with God. It sounds like walking on a tightrope, right? One very quick shift in balance and down you’ll go. Not even the world’s best acrobat is assured that she is 100% safe at all times. So what would keep us from having a free fall? It’s PRAYER.

Walking the tightrope of Christian life should not be laden with worry, fear or anxiety. The Bible is filled with God’s promises of His Faithfulness. As Christians, we are privileged to hold onto these promises because they are the Truth. God is there EVERY SECOND for us… Have we done the same for Him?

I admit that I let my busy schedules, work deadlines, demanding profession get in the way of my prayer life this year. Just when I thought that I’ve given Him ENOUGH of my time this year, I realized that I should have given nothing less than the 31,622,400 seconds plus that extra one of 2008 – a leap year with a leap second – how cool is that? Only God can do such amazing things in this universe… and in our life. That alone makes Him deserving of each second of our breathing life.