If you knew of someone who was trying to get their finances under control without using a budget, you’d be sceptical of their chances. The same is true about time control.I am given 988,800 seconds a year to spend, about a hundred million if I live to a hundred, that sounds like a lot but each one, once spent, is gone. The ones invested in eternity by asking the Lord how he wants them spent, will be significant forever. Thankfully, the Lord is good at restoring the years that the locust has eaten, but how precious are those who take to heart, “remember NOW thy creator in the days of thy youth or ever the days may come that you feel like Dr Bell with aches and pains and declining energy. Talk to the youth at church and help them fight the insane lie in our society that we have to rebel against family and sow our wild oats in order to emancipate and individuate and be “healthy”. The sooner they serve and obey God and cooperate with his ordained systems, the better, now is the day of salvation.

Just as with finances, where one takes a good look at what one is actually doing with ones’ money, we need to look at how we now spend our precious gift of time.

Is it crammed with too much, and a lot of it is pointless? Is it too empty, to focussed on self, or too focussed on others and no time to smell the roses and recuperated from the struggles of life?

If you have trouble with a schedule that is too empty and can’t figure out what to do, take a paper and write the hours down one side and fill in one thing that would be worth doing in each of the free hours and include time for exercise, fun and meditation and prayer. Next , give a copy of the schedule to your meanest friend and ask them to call you at random and see if you are doing what you purposed to do. I worked with men waiting to be discharged from the military and rotting in the hospital with “nothing to do”. When I encouraged them to do the little they could, they soon did not have enough time to get it all done. Even those in prison found themselves almost too busy.

If you have trouble with a schedule that is too crammed, record it and show it to someone to help you find out what you can drop to have more time for the Lord and be able to respond to new opportunities.

I remember a lady who couldn’t say no to a request from church to help out. She was having devotions and the Lord said to her, “Woman you are in big trouble!” How so? she replied. “Well, the next time they ask you to do something at church, either you will say NO and then will be nervous about how they will think about you, OR you will say YES and then I will be angry with you!” God wanted her to take more time with him and with her family.  Five minutes later she had a call asking her to play the piano for a ladies’ meeting. She wasn’t that good and it would have taken more time than she could spare to prepare, so she took a deep breath and said SORRY I CAN’T.  She then went to the meeting early but had to go to the back room to keep from screaming out ” OK I’ll do it!” She cried out to the Lord, and just then heard someone playing the piano in the other room. A new lady had showed up who just HAPPENED to be a piano teacher and was drawn right in and given a role that would not have been available if the first lady had said yes. Sometimes God wants us to do less busyness and take time to think and pray and feel and worship.

So remember the tool: every week I need to stop and ask the Holy Spirit to show me how I am doing at investing my time and casting all my cares on him, being in the present place and time and taking no thought for tomorrow but tackling the present problems and challanges with gusto.