Text: Vau­la Es­ke­li

Trans­la­ti­on: Sirk­ka-Lii­sa Lei­no­nen

Many of us know the fee­ling of ha­ving to rush to an ap­point­ment or get­ting an as­sign­ment done just be­fo­re the de­ad­li­ne. Some may even ha­bi­tu­al­ly wait un­til close to the de­ad­li­ne be­fo­re they ac­comp­lish their task. This may be es­pe­ci­al­ly true of stu­dents pre­pa­ring for an exa­mi­na­ti­on or wri­ting a pa­per. Some even say that they work most ef­fi­cient­ly kno­wing there is not much time left.

Time pas­ses, and we can­not slow down or ac­ce­le­ra­te its pas­sa­ge. Time be­fo­re the pre­sent is al­re­a­dy in the past, and the fu­tu­re is unk­nown to us. We on­ly have the mo­ment in which we are li­ving right now.

While ha­ving a quick cup of cof­fee be­fo­re the work­day, we of­ten think about the mee­tings we will be at­ten­ding and the full sche­du­le of tasks ahe­ad of us at the workp­la­ce. At the same time, we may be thin­king about the dai­ly shop­ping list, our turn to pick up the kids from day care, or how our tee­na­ger will ma­na­ge his math les­son. There are al­so the things we would like to do to­get­her as a fa­mi­ly and the bed­ti­me sto­ries. Life is full of things to do. Will I have time for eve­ryt­hing, will I be ab­le to ac­comp­lish all things?

We may al­so take on many kinds of time-con­su­ming tasks on top of the re­al­ly ne­ces­sa­ry ones. We ea­si­ly drift in­to a si­tu­a­ti­on where there are too many things to do and, des­pi­te our good in­ten­ti­ons, are unab­le to meet our de­ad­li­nes. Our un­re­a­lis­tic ex­pec­ta­ti­ons of ac­comp­lis­hing all things crumb­le.

Many pe­op­le are awa­re of their time ma­na­ge­ment prob­lems, es­pe­ci­al­ly if they have an as­sign­ment they find unp­le­a­sant or unin­te­res­ting. Pe­op­le have dif­fe­rent cha­rac­te­ris­tics and inc­li­na­ti­ons that de­ter­mi­ne whet­her they find a big as­sign­ment or event an­no­ying and un­mo­ti­va­ting.

Cons­cien­ti­ous­ness is anot­her cha­rac­te­ris­tic that af­fects our ten­den­cy to post­po­ne tasks. Cons­cien­ti­ous­ness is thought to be re­la­ted to our abi­li­ty to con­cent­ra­te, show self-cont­rol, and be met­ho­di­cal. These are all part of the fra­me­work that af­fects our in­ten­ti­on to ac­comp­lish things and ma­kes us work at the very last mo­ment.

In the Bib­le, the last mo­ment for doing so­met­hing is cal­led the ele­venth hour. This re­fers to the ele­venth hour coun­ted from six o’clock in the mor­ning, i.e. the hour from six to se­ven in the eve­ning.

At ser­vi­ces we have he­ard ser­mons about the ow­ner of the vi­ney­ard who hi­red pe­op­le to work from ear­ly in the mor­ning till the last hour of the work­day. The wor­kers were surp­ri­sed about the pa­y­ment. The ow­ner had pro­mi­sed to pay a de­na­rius for the day, and he paid the same sum to all wor­kers re­gard­less of the time they had spent wor­king. With this pa­rab­le, Je­sus wan­ted to te­ach us about the abun­dant grace of God that one can pos­sess even at the very last mo­ment. We have been pro­mi­sed full re-com­pen­sa­ti­on in he­a­ven, re­gard­less of whet­her we have been be­lie­ving sin­ce child­hood or have found God’s king­dom on our de­ath­bed.

The rob­ber on the cross ex­pe­rien­ced God’s great grace when he he­ard Je­sus say, “Truly I tell you, to­day you will be with me in pa­ra­di­se.” (Luke 23:43).

Ele­venth hour

It will come
the ele­venth hour

be­fo­re it is too late
I have to stack the fi­re­wood
make some bread
send the child­ren to school

now is the time
to play with the grandc­hild­ren
say the eve­ning pra­yer
love and touch
the lon­ging hands

now is the time
to for­gi­ve
see all things that are good
con­ti­nue the work
sit and rest
trust wit­hout doubts

it is still the time
to call.

Vau­la Es­ke­li