“To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.”
(Ecclesiastes 3:1)
You know how they say, “Better late than never”? Well… I’d say, better early than regretful.
One of the lessons that adulthood will drill into you, sometimes painfully, is that there is a time for everything and that time isn’t waiting for anyone. You can’t keep postponing what should have been done yesterday and expect today to move smoothly. The truth is: if we’re going to honour God, people, and even our own lives, we must learn to respect time.
Whatever it takes to show up early, do it. Lay out your clothes the night before. Pack the bags. Set multiple alarms.
Sometimes, it takes setting five ridiculous alarms; 6:00, 6:03, 6:05, 6:10, 6:12, all in the hope that one of them will win the battle and get me out of bed. At this point, it’s less about hearing them and more about knowing that if I smash one, the others are coming for me 😅. It might sound silly, but it works, intentionality isn’t always grand or perfect.
Sleep earlier if you must. Because constantly being late is not just an inconvenience, it becomes a pattern that can be used against you.
Planning is our responsibility. When we plan ahead, we remove the pressure to scramble. We don’t have to rush or end up wearing different legs of slippers to school runs like me. 😅😭.
Proverbs 6:6-8 says:“Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.”
If you live in a place like Lagos, Nigeria, you already know that anything can happen. Traffic can turn a 20-minute drive into a 3-hour standstill. So it’s better to be early and wait than to arrive flustered, sweaty, and possibly too late.
I remember one time my husband and I had a flight to catch from Lagos. It was a local flight, nothing international or extra fancy, just one of those everyday things you figure can’t go too wrong. The flight was for 11:30 AM, so we left Ibadan around 7 AM, thinking we had time to spare, it was just a local flight, after all. We planned to get to the airport by 10:30 latest, check in, and even relax a bit.
But somewhere between Redemption Camp and Mowe, traffic greeted us like an uninvited guest at a wedding. It wasn’t moving. Not crawling, it was just still like those old mannequins that are downright scary. By the time we realized the seriousness of our situation, it was close to 10:00 a.m and we had barely moved.
No amount of prayer and spiritual acrobatics could stop the time. At that point, unless God gave us wings like eagles, we weren’t making that flight. Since we didn’t grow feathers, we did the next best thing, we jumped on a bike. With our boxes.
Thank God for Nigerian bikes!
We abandoned the taxi, strapped our boxes to the back of a bike, and told the rider to ride like he was on a mission to heaven itself. The man flew! I don’t know what kind of anointing was on that Okada, but by some miracle, we made it.
That experience taught me: Plan like your life depends on it, because sometimes, it just might.
You know How This Reminded Me of Esau?
My husband said something that got me thinking. He said, ““Maybe if Esau had some animals nearby, like if he raised a few at home, reared and ready, like Rebekah did, instead of always going out to hunt, maybe he wouldn’t have missed the blessing, maybe he would have brought the kill to Isaac faster.”
And I somewhat agree. It’s possible that his delay in getting the meat created the window for Rebekah and Jacob to step in with their own version of the plan. Luke 12:35 says “Be dressed and ready for active service, and keep your lamps continuously burning.”
It’s not that hunting was bad. That was his skill, his trade. But perhaps he wasn’t ready for sudden moments. Maybe he didn’t plan for the “just in case.” And while we know from Scripture that God intended the blessing for Jacob (Genesis 25:23), the timing and the urgency of the moment caught Esau off guard.
And while Jacob went about it deceitfully, which I absolutely don’t endorse, the lesson here isn’t to cheat our way to purpose, but to be prepared for what God wants to do. Because the fact that God promised something doesn’t mean we should sit idle or think it will fall into our laps.
God works with the prepared.
This brings me to an important point: just because God promises something doesn’t mean we need to use deception or manipulation to bring it to pass. If God has said it, He’s able to do it:
His way
In His time, and
Without our “help.”
How I Fought Lateness When My First Son Started School
When my first son started school, it was a real struggle not to be late. And when I say late, I don’t mean the usual Nigerian lateness of 45 minutes to an hour, I mean 15 to 20 minutes. For someone who is naturally time-conscious, that felt like a big deal. It might not seem like much to the habitual latecomer, but for me, it was frustrating and honestly a bit disheartening.
I realised quickly that if I didn’t take deliberate steps, we would keep showing up late and that wasn’t okay with me.
So I made adjustments. For a while, I bathed him the night before, right before bedtime, so that in the morning, all he needed to do was brush his teeth. I also started prepping meals ahead, even if it was just chopping vegetables or setting out ingredients the night before. Anything to save those precious 15-20 minutes in the morning rush.
If you’re going to overcome lateness, you must put in the effort to build a better habit. It won’t happen by accident. It takes intentional planning, sacrifice, and serious commitment to honouring time, both yours and others’.
Punctuality is not just about the clock. It’s about character. It’s about discipline. And it’s one of those values we must model early, because if we don’t model it, we won’t multiply it.
Model It First, Children Learn What We Live
I noticed that the more I taught my children to be punctual; getting dressed early, packing their bags ahead, prepping for outings, the more I had to do the same. Because what’s the point of yelling, “Hurry up!” when I’m still fixing my wig?
Here are a few things I’ve learned to do practically (even though I’m still growing):
- Prep the night before: Outfits laid out. Bags packed. Shoes by the door (especially for kids who love hide-and-seek… with their shoes).
- Set realistic departure times: If church starts at 8:00, we plan to be seated by 7:45. That 15-minute buffer has saved us more than once.
- Wake up earlier than the children: This one’s hard, but even 20 minutes ahead gives you breathing space.
- Use timers: Kids can understand clocks if you teach them. Make it a game, “Let’s beat the clock!” can turn into a punctuality habit.
Benefits of Being Punctual
- You start your day unrushed and in peace.
- You teach your children to respect time and people.
- You model integrity, because saying you’ll be somewhere at 8 and showing up at 8 is a form of keeping your word.
- You position yourself and your children to receive opportunities without being disqualified by lateness.
What Happens When We’re Habitually Late?
- We create unnecessary stress in our homes, shouting, rushing, forgetting things.
- We give our children the message that time doesn’t matter, or worse, that their time doesn’t.
- We frustrate others who depend on us to be reliable.
- We can miss open doors simply because we arrived after they closed.
It’s Not Too Late to Be On Time
You don’t have to be perfect right away to teach this. You just have to start making better decisions about time and letting your children watch you do it. You may not be naturally punctual and that’s okay. But with the help of the Holy Spirit, you can grow, and you can lead your children in growth too.
They’ll remember that you tried.
They’ll learn from your consistency.
And they’ll show up to life early, ready, prepared, and in alignment.
How beautiful and noble it would be to raise punctual, kingdom-minded children, who arrive early, show up prepared, and are always ready to say yes, when God calls.
