Its about Time...

I started thinking the other day, which is usually dangerous, about time. How much time is spend doing the various things I do, where I go and why, and that sort of thing. Because there never seems to be enough time to do all the things that need to get done. Am I the only one that is short of time?

168. We all get the same 168 hours each week. No more, no less, cannot use them like rollover minutes, cannot save them. We can only spend them, at the rate of 168/week. A relatively large number of those hours are spent asleep. Sleep is productive and important, but not in the ways we want them to be.

There are a variety of demands on my 168. I must be a husband and a father. I must be the pastor of the church, which includes a whole variety of various tasks. I must care for our belongings like home, cars, yardwork. 168 seems not to be quite enough to do all those things. Perhaps a 36 hour day, and 252/ wk would be more practical.

And there are some things I seek to do, not must do, but want to do. I want to find more time to write, this blog, the various books I have in my head. I want to go fishing. I want to spend more time with the people I care about. I want to travel to Cabo San Lucas and scuba dive. Time, sweet time.

The Bible tells us in Ephesians 5 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Circumspectly is a fancy word for carefully. Foolish folk waste time. Wise folks are careful and conscientious about how they use that most limited resource, so that the time spent is productive and beneficial to self and others.

I have come to the conclusion that there is never enough time to do everything that one seeks to do. 168 is just not enough to get it all in. But what we can do is do the important things well. And the other things may have to be left undone.

There is one more thing I must do. This is not an afterthought, but deliberately mentioned last, so that it will be remembered by you who read. I must be close with God. I must know Him and be known by Him. I must look into His Word regularly, I must communicate with Him regularly in prayer. I must spend enough time with God so that His presence is the transformative agent in me. And that takes time.