Meditations

This is part five of the series "Power of a Focused Life." If you are just now reading the blog, you may want to go back and read parts 1-4.  I suggested on my last blog that you should keep a time log of all your activities for one week.  I have already done this last year and I discovered some interesting things about my use of time.

First of all, I did not spend nearly the time that I thought I did with the important people in my life. My relationship category was the smallest sliver of time in the particular week that I logged my activities.  I was shocked to see how little time I spent with the "love of my life." Red flag! One of my goals was to continue to develop my relationship with Mark. That takes time and I was not giving it many moments. Interestingly enough, I thought about this past week.  The same statistic held true.  Mark and I were like passing ships."

Secondly, I needed more rest.  I consistently got less than 8 hours of sleep every night, even though my intentions were good. I always vowed that the next night would be better. Lack of sleep feeds depression/anxiety issues in our lives.  Lack of sleep usually leads to excuses about having a quiet time the next morning. Lack of sleep also causes weight gain.  Yikes!  Mark always reminds me of a Vince Lombardi quote, "Fatigue makes cowards of us all."  I make terrible decisions when I am tired. Goals get thrown out the window. 

Lastly, and more importantly, the second largest category, aside from sleeping was...unaccounted for time.  Hmmn. I realize that you cannot account for every minute of everyday.  However, I think a bigger issue was at play.  I believe that I was wasting a lot of time.  I did not log Facebook time, Twitter time, sitting on the back porch time, etc.  There is not a thing wrong with having some unaccounted time. However, consider the words of Paul to the city of Ephesus:

Ephesians 5:15-17
"So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do." 

God created us to live like wise men, not foolish men. Foolish men spend hours on the News Feed of Facebook. Foolish men spend hours watching TV. Aggressive use of time will be needed is we are to accomplish all that God has planned for us. If we truly believe that we have lots of time to waste, we have decided that God did not plan very much for our life; that we are certainly not particularly valuable for the kingdom. Reread that last statement. Do you really want to shortchange yourself like that? Do you honestly believe  that God has big plans for others but not for you? To say "no" to things that are not in your life's vision is a wise thing.  To say "no" to things just because you want more free time is foolish.

Unscheduled time is usually made up of "good things" but not the "best things." Powerful essay by Charles Hummel on "The Tyranny of the Urgent"  talks about this very issue.  We let the other people crowd out the important things with their urgent agenda for us. Check out this essay.
http://my279days.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Tyranny-of-the-Urgent.pdf

Want to make a change, but feel overwhelmed? Get a plan.  Start by keeping the plan 50% the first week, then increase to 60% the next week, and so on.  You won't ever hit a 100%.  Interruptions are an important part of God's plan for you.  Jesus was walking on his way to heal the daughter of a very important man, a leader in the synagogue. He was stopped, interrupted we would say, by a woman who had internal bleeding for most of her life. Why would Jesus stop on the way to gain "name recognition" by healing the  the synagogue's daughter? Because he knew when to say "yes" and when to say "no." He knew when to throw his calendar out the window and when to keep his schedule.

Have you ever faced the challenge and the joy of planning your own hours?  Have you spent your life letting others plan your time for you?  Your boss? Your family? Your ministry at church? When will you begin to plan your schedule? Satan would like nothing more than for you to have a "pretty good life"  but not a "powerful life." Say "no" to a TV show this week and spend that time writing down a plan for how you would like to spend your time.  Or continue in the path you are on, promising yourself that you will "do this next week or this weekend or next summer" and tell our beautiful Creator that the TV show was more important somehow than living the abundant life he had wanted for you.