Go head, spend an hour or so thinking about it, write it out on paper, then come back here and we’ll chat a bit more. I’ll just sit here and do some thumb twiddling.
My goodness, you’re back already? Did you really put the list on paper so you can mark it up? Good. OK, here goes.
Beside each one of the items on your list, put an estimate of how much time you spend on that item each week. I know – there’s one or two things that only happen once a year. Prorate for a week’s time and put it down. Do that for each of the other items on your list, then check to be sure that it doesn’t add up to more than a week’s worth of waking time (well, unless you included Sleep on your list – then include sleeping hours, too.)
Got it? If you’ll admit to it, how much of your list includes time with our Lord? Did you include church services? Church activities? Bible reading time? Prayer time? Any of that on your list?
If so, good for you. Do those hours add up to be greater than any of the others? If not, what ever surfaces as the top item of your list may fall under:
Thou shalt have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:3 KJV)
Thou shalt have none other gods before me. (Deuteronomy 5:7 KJV)
For Christians it also falls under:
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matthew 6:21 KJV)
Were there any eye opening numbers that showed up? If you were truthful, there might have been. There were a couple of things I put on the list as things I liked to do – and very (in one case, very, very!) little time spent there.
Our world is changing around us. Lifestyles are being impacted, often without our input, without our ability to affect changes, but we can choose how to spend the majority of our time. We can be productive, or we can be grumpy. We can be grateful or we can be immersed in self-pity. It’s not a half empty/full glass, it should be a cup overflowing, as David perceived it in his psalm of God’s comforting presence:
… my cup runneth over. (Psalms 23:5c KJV)
Does your study of your interests versus your available time bring changes to your schedule? I’d love to hear about it.
What a great post! Something we all need to be reminded of again and again. I taught the teenage girls one time and I had them write down the things they spent time on all week after school. The preacher's daughter was surprised when she realized she spent 8 hours watching TV on that Saturday! It's so easy to let that time slip away, but we barely spend time with God and we're ready to quit and move on to something else. I'm reminded of Proverbs 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. It takes diligence!
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