| |
 I speak at churches in different cities across the country, and there is one thing every church has in common: people are always late. Sometimes the pastor will jokingly say, “They are running on California time ” or, “Phoenix time,” or, “Nashville time.” But I always assure him that there is nothing special about his group. It’s a universal phenomenon.
Why are some people habitually late?
Probably not because they need a better time management system. Systems help and they are necessary, but they cannot solve the problem alone. Right attitudes produce punctuality. And one of the most important attitudes necessary for punctuality is respect for people.
When I am late, it shows disrespect for the other person – I am in essence stealing the other person’s time. Horace Mann once said,
“Unfaithfulness in the keeping of an appointment is an act of clear dishonesty. You may as well borrow a person’s money as his time.”
When I am late, it says to the other person, “I did not care enough about your time to be prompt.”
It is unlikely that people who are consistently tardy would be late for an appointment with someone they wanted to impress. They would almost always be on time for an important job interview, or a meeting with their future in-laws, or even a much-anticipated movie.
I know that everyone is late some times. It is inevitable in a fallen world. Nothing ever works exactly as you planned. Things go wrong. Stuff happens. But people who respect other people do their best to call ahead, send a text, or find some way to communicate with the people who are waiting. When they finally arrive, the first words out of their mouth are, “I’m sorry I’m late. Please forgive me.” The soul of punctuality is respect for other people.
More on this topic later. Right now I am late for a meeting.
|
|
