Choosing Your Time Wisely

Earlier this year I saw an Instagram post that read, “Instead of saying ‘I don’t have time,’ try saying, ‘It’s not a priority,’ and see how that feels.” I’ve since looked up the source of that quote and found an interesting article on the Wall Street Journal by Laura Vanderkam. (see the full article here http://on.wsj.com/2ClteFj) Vanderkam suggests, “Changing our language reminds us that time is a choice.” She also writes that you may not be spending as much time working or as little time sleeping as you have lead yourself to believe, and suggests keeping a time log.

I'm over halfway through my first day of trying to keep a time log, and I have found that I don’t want to write down things like, “looked at Facebook,” or “watched TV,” and I especially don’t want that to take up as much of my time log as those things generally take up in my day. So, when Phoebe woke me up this morning at 0515 hours because she was hungry, instead of either doing nothing or looking at Facebook or Instagram, I caught up on one of my Bible reading plans. Mind you, this is way too early in the morning for me, so it is not when I am going to do my best studying of God’s Word, but reading His Word is better than not reading it, and certainly more edifying than many other options.

Maybe Facebook or TV isn’t what you waste a lot of time doing. There is almost assuredly something that you could spend less time doing, and perhaps a time log for a few days would be a good way for you to be mindful of that, or even just saying to yourself about the things you aren’t doing, as suggested by Vanderkam, “It’s not a priority.” We all have the same 24 hours in the day, and we are called to be productive and live with purpose. God’s first command to man is, “Be fruitful and multiply,” (Gn 1:28, repeated Gn 9:1). James also tells us that faith without works is a dead faith (Jas 2:14-26). For truly, if you have faith in God and love God, you must remember that love is an action. Going back to the two greatest commandments, love God, love others (Mt 22:36-40), it follows that by loving others you are loving God, and yes, that means praying for them, but also lending a helping hand when you can. A bottle of water to the drug addict asking for money, an encouraging word to the barista who looks like he hates life, money sent to support helping orphans and widows and freeing slaves. No matter what it is, we are called to do the work of Jesus and spread the Gospel (Mt 16:13-16; 28:19-20; 1 Cor 12:27-31; 15:58), and it is hard to do that lying still or spending all our time selfishly.

Go to the ant, O sluggard;

consider her ways, and be wise.

Without having any chief,

officer, or ruler,

she prepares her bread in summer 

and gathers her food in harvest.

How long will you lie there, O sluggard?

When will you arise from your sleep?

A little sleep, a little slumber,

a little folding of the hands to rest,

and poverty will come upon you like a robber,

and want like an armed man. (Proverbs 6:6-11)

We can’t go without sleep obviously, God created us in such a way that our bodies require sleep, but just as we were told to work for six days and rest for one, so should we remember we must make good use of our time within every day. Also, since Jesus is our sabbath, that is, we find our rest in Him, though it may seem like work to study God’s Word, it is there and in other ways we spend time with our Lord that we will truly find rest; not at the movies, not out for drinks, not shopping. Again, that doesn’t mean we can’t do these things, we just must make sure our priorities are correct. God wants a relationship with us, that is why He created us, to love us and so that we can love Him. Keeping that in mind, for all my married readers, how does it feel when your spouse chooses to watch TV rather than taking the time to have a real, distraction-free conversation with you? Or maybe they choose to hang-out with their friends, without you, on one of the few days you would have been able to spend together? Let’s not make God feel that way, or our spouse for that matter.

I get that we have limited time and we have a lot of relationships, passions, and responsibilities that are taking from that time, but God should always come first. That doesn’t mean I don’t change a diaper because I am busy reading the Bible, instead I do change that diaper because God called me to be a mother and to care for my children, and by doing that I am honoring Him. However, I do also need to spend some uninterrupted time with Him. Next comes my husband, then my children, then everything else falls in somewhere. So easy to say, but so hard to accomplish, and I think the change of language Vanderkam suggests really changes our perspective on how we are truly spending our time.

I am on this journey with you and I lose my way a lot. There are days when I am that sluggard, praise Yahweh for His grace and forgiveness. I hope you find this helpful in your own life. To God be the glory!

Side Note: I listened to a podcast once during harvest a few years back and I wish I remembered what it was, but the guy was talking about sleep. He basically said that he found sleep to be interesting. He continued that God could have created us without a need for sleep, or needing far less sleep than we do. However, we need a huge amount of sleep, almost 1/3 of our lives. The curious thing about sleep is that when we lie down to sleep, we are in our most vulnerable state.

Think of that. That is the time when it would be easiest for someone to steal from you, accost you, or any number of other things. Indeed, in our youth I’m sure many of us have encountered prank versions of these that have highlighted the vulnerability of sleep, such as people drawing on your face, or the worst that I have encountered, throwing you, sleeping bag and all, into a pond. So in the podcast, he posits that perhaps we require sleep as yet another way to trust in God, because He is the only one who can truly protect us in that vulnerable state.