I Don't Have Time

Quite a few years ago my husband was asked to perform a wedding for a couple in Dover, Ohio.  Since he had to be there for a couple of days his host family took him to see some of the sights.  The place that made the greatest impression on him was the Warther Museum.  Some time later when we were in the area we went together to visit the museum. 

The Warther Museum was once the home of Mooney and Freida Warther and their five children.  Mooney worked in a steel mill and his wife worked hard taking care of the children, growing a huge garden, teaching community classes and collecting buttons.  

Both Mooney and Freida were very busy people but they found time for their creative hobbies.  Mooney had taught himself woodcarving as a young child after finding a rusty pocketknife while caring for the cows.  Freida had been given her mother's button box (as the oldest girl in the family this was the Swiss tradition) and also collected many thousands of buttons through the years.  

Mooney went on to carve amazingly intricate and accurate carvings of trains among other items.  Freida began laying out the buttons in beautiful quilt-like patterns.  The museum is filled with their work.  There is a building completely dedicated to Freida's button creations. 

When my husband visited the first time he was able to take a guided tour.  One of the visitors asked the tour guide how Mooney and Freida had time to pursue their hobbies while also working so hard.  The answer, "They didn't have television."  Now we would also add that they didn't have social media or the internet.

This all came to mind during a discussion we had after breakfast this morning.  I asked my husband how his class went yesterday evening.  He expressed some frustration over the fact that his students come to class unprepared which means time must be taken during the class period to read the material.

Sadly, this is a common problem.  Christians who claim to love the Lord and express their desire to grow spiritually often do not take the time to prepare for Bible class.  

In a recent sermon it was mentioned that if a school child spent only two hours per week in school it would take them ninety years to get the same number of hours that a child in this country would spend in school from the ages of 5 to 18.  Imagine if that child also refused to prepare his lessons.  Even if they spent the hours for those ninety years, they would still be under-educated.

James tells us, So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. James 4:17 (ESV).  Could we go so far as to say that for those who know they should prepare for their Bible classes and who don't are sinning?

Consider what you are teaching your children if you make certain they do their schoolwork but don't even check to see if they have prepared for their Bible class.  What example are you setting if you are always unprepared for Bible class?

We like to say that we just don't have time.  Mooney and Freida had the same 24 hours in a day as we have.  You have time to do the things you really want to do.  It is easy for Satan to tell us that we are too busy to read our Bibles, prepare our lessons and pray.  

(By the way, if you are ever in Dover, Ohio, I strongly urge you to visit the Warther Museum.  It is worth it.)

(The picture above on the left is an older picture of Mooney working on a carving.  You can see some of his trains in the background.  The picture on the right is of some of Freida's button pictures.)