Chronicles of Sebastian - African Time and God's Time

Time - we never have enough of it, right? "Sorry I don’t have time, I am sooo busy". I hear it all the time; in fact, I use it quite often myself - Ayo can testify :-) While we all struggle at times how to make the best use of our limited time, Germans and Nigerians still have quite different approaches to time and efficiency. As usual, I try to provide some examples and lessons for all of us: 

Sabba Sabba reflects!

1. It’s good to enjoy life.
Once in Nigeria I bought my morning “moi-moi” (cooked beans) and since I was somehow busy, I ate it while walking to my lecture. People stopped me in disbelief and told me basically that in Nigeria, there is NO WAY to eat food in this 'on the go' manner. I was supposed to properly sit down and eat it slowly, or even better, go inside and 'chop' it there. That little incident illustrates one major difference: While most Germans try not to waste time, many Nigerians can enjoy 'the moment'. A great number of Germans are very time-conscious and like to save time whenever they can. We have a lot of 'to go' and 'instant' products that you can enjoy 'sharp sharp', for example coffee or burgers. One thing I liked about Nigeria is that it helped me to calm down and take it easy. People always seemed to have time for a little chat and even if they were late for lectures, they looked rather relaxed than pressured. When I was sitting down to eat (I’ve learnt my lesson! :-)) they often said “You’re enjoying, hey?” - and that is exactly what we need to do sometimes - enjoy, chop life and be grateful for God’s blessings. 

'Chopping life' with the guys :-)

                                                                                                  

2. It’s also good to be reliable and efficient.
In everything, we need balance. We can only enjoy rest once we’ve worked hard. If your whole life is about enjoying, you’re 'in soup'. After a while, I began appreciating people with good 'home training', those who were reliable, not just some 'nice to hang out with' guys who talked about some vague exploits yet kept forgetting their assignments. I felt appreciated by those who kept their word, who showed up on time (at least roughly :-)), who checked on me and, if needed, helped me directly instead of making promises such as “Tomorrow now!”. While I loved the easy-goingness described in 1, some things in Nigeria just took waaaay too long - at least for me: administration (eg registering for exams), waiting for busses to fill up, waiting for people who forget appointments, waiting for people who are not in their office and waiting for many other things. I guess God wanted to test my patience and I sense that I took this spirit of not stressing yourself too much to Germany, thank God-oh :-)!
Still I believe that we can enjoy life more by optimizing some procedures in day-to-day life (e.g. online exam registration), which provides valuable 'real free time'. Being efficient (looking for ways to do things faster, easier and better) and being dependable (“your yes be a yes”) with friends are ways to enjoy life, to honor & serve others and to just feel 'on top of things'. 

                              

3. Be available for interruptions.
Interruptions often annoy us since they might disturb our schedules or our rest. In Nigeria I learnt to see interruptions as God-given opportunities to do good, to connect with people and to be open for surprises. While I can sit in a German library for a whole day without anyone interrupting me, in Nigeria a lot of fellow-students didn’t mind the 'Silence' signposts and asked me “how far” am I doing. Trekking to school sometimes took over an hour (instead of 10mins) because children wanted to play, people wanted to talk and mummies wanted to sell fruits. I’ve met some great strangers just by being open for these interruptions. Sure, sometimes you need to “do quick”, remain focussed and get your work done, but remember that even Jesus openly received interruptions constantly and thereby blessed lots of people.

                             

                               

4. Think in seasons and make good use of them.
Nigeria was a beautiful season of my life I’ll never ever forget. Bearing in mind the short time span that God gave me in Nigeria (just one semester) prompted me to spend my time well, live life to the fullest and cherish each moment. Now I need to focus on my family, friends, studies and ministries here in Germany and doing so helps me to enjoy the present. Oftentimes we yearn either for a nostalgic past or a seemingly brighter future and forget to see the benefits and opportunities of the present season God has put us into. Sometimes people ask me why I am still not getting 'hooked up' and honestly I cannot really come up with a specific reason. I’m enjoying my current season, I sense God is using me somehow and I’m excited at what God has next. My singleness grants me a certain flexibility, for example to travel to Nigeria and to just be 'there', both physically and emotionally. In addition, I can easily say yes to new commitments, friends, spontaneous trips - for more, check out this great article. There is a time for everything and I’d recommend everyone not to rush things too quickly, especially in the area of relationships and singleness. Meditate on Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 and let God’s sovereignty over time sink in.

                                  

Whether you struggle with African time, Western stress or unmet desires - ask God to help you redeem the time (Eph 5:16) make the most of each day and each season, by being relaxed, reliable, open and, most of all, sincerely grateful.
Speaking of gratefulness: I want to express my deep gratitude for all the support you’ve shown me so far, I really enjoy reading your comments and being part of this small community. Keep it up and see you next week :-)

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Sabs, says it wonderfully well again and as usual, I was nodding and smiling while reading the post :-).. The last paragraph for me is soo important - Enjoying the current season of your life. There are certain things I expect to have happened in my life right now and if I were the one writing my life story, I know what it would look like right now... It sure would involve a God-ly, tall, handsome, (insert more adjectives here) specimen of a gentleman, a beautiful beach house with a lovely view of the sun - rising and setting, a very healthy looking bank balance that would see me searching for the next project to embark on, jet-setting to different parts of the world impacting lives and spreading the love of Jesus (Do I have to stop dreaming yet? lol) Anyways, you get my drift..

But The One who IS the Author of my life story, has thought it best for me to be in this particular chapter and I would be wasting a very good episode by yearning for what was or what should be, rather than focusing on how much He has blessed me with for today and optimising every single blessing and opportunity. 

What's your story with time? Do you believe (as in really really) believe in the efficacy of God's timing? Do you believe that He has made you in this season of your life for a purpose? Are you grateful to Him for it? Are you grateful that even though you are not where you desire to be yet, you trust that God knows the best for you and it's only a matter of time (irrespective of how 'long' it seems to be taking?). Like Sabs says, I encourage you to enjoy your life now, appreciate the beauty and the blessing of your 'now', and trust God's timing for things to fall into place at His right time :-)

"To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven" - Ecclesiastes 3:1

For all previous Chronicles of Sebastian posts, please click HERE.. Join Sabba again next week Wednesday..I look forward to what he will be sharing with us!
Please visit Sebastian's blog http://seb2nigeria.wordpress.com/ It's in German but you can use 'Google translate' if English translation is required - Lovely lovely blog!

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