Tag: time

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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?

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Focus Friday: Let’s Focus on 1 Second

My daughter did something so cool last year.

She downloaded an app and chose a 1 second video snippet to represent each day. On December 31 she posted it to Facebook and all of her friends and family could watch 365 seconds of her life go by. It was so interesting!

Of course, I recognized what was happening in many of the little snippets of her life (and I even saw myself and the rest of the family a couple of times). I was inspired and immediately downloaded the “1 Second Everyday: Video Diary” app (more info at 1secondeveryday.com).

Today I watched Erin’s video again and noticed even more than I had the first time.

I was reinspired, so I opened the app on my phone and added snippets for the first two days of the year. (You’re curious? For Wednesday I added a picture of my 3 big goals for this year and said “Here we go!”; for yesterday I took a video of our cribbage board with a deck of cards spread out in front of it and said “The guys won” – because, of course, I forgot to take a video when our friends were over last night.)

As the days go by, I think I’ll get better at capturing a moment on my phone as it happens and adding it to the app so I can look back at the year and remember it in a cool way.

The exciting and the mundane.

The highs and the lows.

The little moments that make up another year of living.

Even if you don’t get the app and record your 1 second each day, I encourage you to be more aware of each second that goes by. Take notice of it. See what’s happening around you. Who are you with? What are you doing? How are you feeling? What mental snapshot can you take to make sure you remember?

The older I get, the more I realize that our years fly by faster and faster.

If we aren’t deliberate about how we’re living, we’ll look back someday and wonder what we actually did with all of those seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years.

I predict that if I actually use this app, I’m going to be more conscious of all the things going on as I live each day. I might even do some things I normally would be too lazy to do, just so I can add them to my app. I’m going to be more aware of what I’m doing, what others are doing, and what I want to take note of before the day is over.

I can’t wait to see what my little 365 second movie looks like on December 31, but I’m even more excited about being more deliberate about living each second of 2020.

“Teach us to number our days [and our seconds], that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12 NIV – brackets mine)

Does time seem to fly by without you taking much notice? How can focusing on God help you to be more mindful of each second that goes by this year?

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Super Saturday: Let’s Focus on Every Second

As I was reading someone’s blog post this week, this line stopped me in my tracks: Every second of every day counts.

Wait, what? Every second?

Oh, the guilt that washed over me as I contemplated that sentence. Because, truth is, I don’t always treat every second as if it counts much at all. I’ve piddled away hundreds of thousands of seconds, I’d guess.

What does it really mean that every second counts? Does that mean we should be constantly working, using every second to accomplish our goals and projects? Should we feel guilty when we just sit and watch a sunset, our young child playing, or another rerun of Friends?

To tell you the truth, I’m not really sure what to think about it, but it’s definitely worth contemplating.

I think God wants us to spend time resting, relaxing, and enjoying his creation. So the seconds we spend watching a beautiful sunset or a playing child do count for something. (The rerun of Friends is a bit more questionable, but I think there may even be room for that if we’re spending the rest of our seconds wisely. Or maybe not.)

Where I need some work is really being deliberate about the seconds I have every day. Too often I say that I’m going to work on something “today” or “this week” and then the day or the week is over and I haven’t spent even sixty seconds on that task or project.

That’s why my book proposal isn’t finished. That’s why my podcast isn’t launched. That’s why so many of my good ideas don’t get done.

I don’t acknowledge that every second of every day counts, and so I go through many days distracted and restless, thinking about the things I want to do, but not spending the seconds I need to on them. I’m frustrated and stuck in one place.

If we take each second seriously, we can feel good about the seconds we spend working (because we’ll actually see the results of our hard work) and the seconds we spend relaxing (because we know that we deserve the break and we’ll get back to work again when it’s time). Every second of every day will count and we’ll see forward motion in more areas of our life.

Thanks for taking the seconds needed to read this post. Let’s all make each second count – every day.

“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 ever think about how every second counts? How can focusing on God help you to use each second wisely, whether you’re working or relaxing?

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Focus Friday: Let’s Focus on Spelling

I didn’t expect God to speak to me during the Scripps National Spelling Bee this year, but He did.

As I settled in to watch the finals on Thursday night, I was just expecting to enjoy watching a group of amazing kids spell incredibly difficult words. I love spelling, so I try to give my guess before they show it on the TV screen (I’m usually close, but also usually wrong).

The first round of the finals began:

frailejo’n, Stakhanovite, jabiru, Tophet, alloeostrophe, scuppaug…

I got excited when Dr. Bailley gave the next word: kairos. I knew that one! I had heard it during my studies at Northwestern College. It had something to do with time, I thought, but as he read the definition, I was completely convicted:

A time when conditions are right for the accomplishment of a crucial action: the opportune and decisive moment.

Alice went on to spell “kairos” correctly, but I was stuck on that word for several minutes.

It hit me because I think we miss our kairos so often. We let that moment go by and waste our opportunity to do something significant. And then we do that over and over again, because of fear or uncertainty.

It hit me because this is my kairos. Our children are grown, I don’t work outside the home, I have the time and the talents and the desire to accomplish several crucial actions. I don’t want to waste any more opportunities.

On Thursday night, it felt like God was saying, “Do I have to spell it out for you? It’s time.”

“Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” (John 13:17 NIV)

Is it the kairos for you in any area of your life? How can focusing on God help you to “seize the day” and take crucial action?