The mid-year school holiday has finally arrived.  This allows students in both primary and secondary schools to take a much needed break after their examinations.  In the month-long holiday, some parents may go on vacation trips while others may seize the opportunity to enrol let their children in additional tuition classes.  Learning centres also organize various kinds of holiday activity for school children.  Instead of children wasting their time on TV programmes or computer games, parents would like their children to spend their holidays wisely and meaningfully.

Indeed, time is precious.  The Bible exhorts us to live our days wisely: “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.  Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is” (Ephesians 5:15-17).  This passage of the Bible shows that the bad habit of wasting away our time is not a trivial matter.  It reflects a careless attitude towards one’s life and being indifferent towards God’s will.

Is wasting time that serious?  We are told in the passage of the Bible to live our life wisely because “the days are evil.”  The days are “evil” because it blinds us, causing us to lose our focus in life and distract us from living out the will of God.  In this context, to waste our time away is to live our life outside of God’s will.  Hence, whether we have wasted our life away is judged by how much we have lived our life in accordance with God’s will.  The passage further instructs us to understand God’s will and live accordingly so as to use our time wisely.  Therefore, wise use of our time is a serious matter.

A wise use of time requires us to cease every moment that is lived outside of God’s will.  To do that, we need to know what God’s will is.  The following verses say: “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery.  Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit.  Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:18-20).  In essence, this passage instructs us to draw close to God and to live according to what the Bible says.  This includes abstaining from pleasure seeking.  It does not mean that we should be busy all the time.  We ought to rest when it is time to do so.  We also ought to make time for drawing close to God.  It is also necessary for us to be mindful of what we are busy with and how we spend our leisure time so as to be sure that they are pleasing to God.

How can our children spend their school holiday wisely?  Besides arranging for holiday activities or tuition classes, as parents, we should seize the opportunity to help our children cultivate the habit of reading the Bible and praying regularly.  Some parents take leave from their work to spend time with their children.  This is wise as during term time, children are busy with their school work and we lack time to bond with them.  As we spend more time to understand and to interact with our children, we are building a stronger relationship with them.  This is essential for us to better guide them in life.  Travelling or completing a project together are some ways to strengthen the parent-child bonding.

Chinese say that time is money.  But the fact is, time is much more precious than money—it is our life.  We are wasting our life away if we spend our time in things that are unimportant.  Let us exhort one another to be good stewards of time and to use it wisely on matters that are of eternal value and that are pleasing to God.