Focus Friday: Let’s Focus on Using Our Time Wisely

Gary and I spent some time this week getting ready for a trip that seemed far off on Monday.

At first, my attitude was pretty noncommital (dare I say even a bit annoyed?).

My husband wanted me to look into distances, shelters, and more of the details for our trip in a few weeks. We’re going to hike about seventy miles of the Appalachian Trail through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee. We love hiking, but we’ve never hiked for a whole week. He was right, we needed to figure things out, but I didn’t want to do it yet.

We sat down one night and mapped out how far we plan to hike each day and where we can stay each night. We called my parents to make sure they could drop us off and pick us up at the end. We started making a list of things we need to buy.

This afternoon Gary made me dig out my hiking pants and other gear. We spent some time trying things on and figuring out what we needed to wear. Our extra bedroom now has two neat piles of clothes next to the rest of the supplies we have so far.

It suddenly dawned on me today that we have just a little over two weeks before we hit the trail. That’s not much time! I’m so glad my husband is a planner and he talked me into doing some planning and preparation as we’re looking forward to this adventure.

Left on my own, my tendency is to put things off until the last minute, rush around in a frenzy trying to get something done, and inevitably forget something in my haste. That’s not good when you’re going to be miles from civilization.

I want to practice living more like Gary in other areas of my life, too. Keeping track of what’s ahead on my schedule and doing a little bit at a time to get ready for those events and projects will help me feel more peace.

It’s stressful to put things off. Deadlines get missed, late fees get added, pressure builds up, and anxiety skyrockets.

I think our spiritual lives suffer, too, when we don’t use our time wisely. We can feel guilt and shame because we’re wasting time instead of working on something important.

We can’t be working every minute of every day, but we do need to think about how we’re spending our time. The Holy Spirit will help us find balance and show us how to make the very best use of the time we have.

That’s the way I want to live, even if I fail sometimes. We can start over whenever we want to and determine to use our time wisely.

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15–16 ESV)

Do you waste too much time? How can focusing on God help you to work hard and use your time wisely?