Not Enough Time!

I hear it all the time. I'm occasionally guilty of it myself, but quite honestly, the phrase, "I don't have enough time" is pretty lame! We all have the same amount of time. We all have 168 hours per week (OK, Pastor Ryan can probably say that it's actually something like 168 1/4 hours and 38 seconds or something like that, but for the rest of us it's 168!). I here, "I don't have time to commit to that" or "We're just too busy to join a home team" or I don't have time to study the Bible every day."

The bottom line, is that we have all the time we need to accomplish what God wants us to accomplish in our lives. We have enough time to fulfill His purposes in our lives. There are so many things in this world that eat time. Kids, school, sports, hobbies, shopping, work, volunteering, sleep, eating, are all time killers. They are not bad in and of themselves, and some are necessary.

The real question is the issue of "First Fruits." God has been teaching me a lot about this concept lately. The first and best of everything we have or do belongs to God. This includes our time! I firmly believe what I have heard many times, that we have enough time for what is important to us. I have found over the years that this is so true! It means that sometimes we have to say no to things that seem important for things that truly are!

One example in our lives as parents with two athletic boys, was limiting their sports activities. This was often hard. The parent pride factor would often rear it's ugly head. We wanted our kids to excel and to be "multi-sport talents." The thing is, games and practices eat time. They begin to interfere with our ability to be involved with home teams (our own educational goals and desires can have the same impact). We decided when the boys were young that they could only play one sport at a time. There were some occasions when sports would overlap by a couple of weeks, but in general, they weren't playing two sports at a time. This prevented us from running around like chickens... (at least to much). It also helped us maintain control of our weekly schedule.

So what's really important? What needs to be a priority above all else? I can't determine that for you, sorry! For us, God comes first! That's easy to say, I know, and applying it is sometimes difficult, and we constantly have to work at it (sometimes we still don't get it right!). Here's some of our priorities that come before anything else:

Daily devotions - Paige and I read the Bible together at the breakfast table nearly every day. The days we don't is because we didn't get up in time. In other words, we didn't make it a priority that day! Afterward, I take some time for my own devotions so that I can pray and journal (Mornings are the best time of my day for spending time focused on God).

Church - You might say that's easy for you because it's your job to be there. That's true, but even when it wasn't my job, and even if it weren't, it would still be a priority. Church is where the body of Christ gathers, why wouldn't I want to be a part of that? For Paige, serving is important so attending one, and serving one is a priority for her.

Home Team - I'll be honest here and say that sometimes I don't feel like going, but I'm always glad that I did! We need to do life with other believers. I lead a group for new believers (pouring into others), and attend one led by someone else (my brother-in-law Steve). I need both. It's important that we lead people toward maturity in Christ, and it's important that we continue to grow to become more like Christ.

Date Night - It's essential that I take time to focus on Paige and my marriage. Sometimes our date night gets trumped, but we find ways to spend time during the week and we don't let that happen very often.

Sunday Lunch - With Caleb away at school and Josh working varied hours, this is a time that we connect as a family. We don't accept many invitations to things on Sunday afternoons because this is a priority. Occasionally someone can't be there, but we try to make this a weekly priority. Lunch is usually around 3, but it is still lunch!

After these things come everthing else. I would love to take some classes, but there's no time, because other things have higher priority.

How do you make sure you have enough time to do what God has called you to? What do you not do that you want to do because of how you prioritize your time?