Using up your time

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How will you use up your time this week? You have 168 hours. 

How much time will you spend alone? How much time will you spend with others? How much time will you spend in front of a computer? How much time will you spend working? When you have "free" time, what will you do with it? Will you use it on yourself? Will you reach out to others? When you are just thinking where will your thoughts go? Are they selfish or are you thinking about others?

I don't know about you, but these are convicting questions to answer. I'm selfish. A lot of time I think about myself. Yet I have a wife and kids to also think about. What do they want? How do I love and help them? As we approach the holiday times of Thanksgiving and Christmas and I have more time with our family these questions come up more. Also, as our days get a little shorter (amount of daylight) and we're stuck inside more due to the cold weather it's easy to just want to turn on the TV and just try to get to the end of the day.

I would call myself an unrealistic goal-setter many times with little follow through. I start thinking about questions like the above and think oh I should do this and that oh and that too. I start for a few days and sputter out quickly. I know that about myself and because of it I then tend to just say forget the whole thing I won't even start. I realize that I need to start smaller and just show up regularly. Take this blog for instance. I rarely miss a day. Or reading the bible is similar... although my comprehension/study could definitely improve. My point is I have to make thinking about how I'm using my time as part of a routine for myself. It's also about prioritizing. I like having a clean, picked-up house, but if that gets in the way of time with my family and becomes the main thing I care about, well I need to shift my priorities. 

Looking back at what I've written here there's a lot of (I's). I just need to do this or that. I start, I need,... It would be good if I would remember that I can't do anything without God's help. Even if I'm not asking for it. He's still the one that sustains me. In His sovereignty He allows my body to continue functioning, my brain to keep thinking. If it wasn't for Him I could do nothing. There's definitely a part of planning out how I use the time that falls on me, but there's also another part where I must invite God in and ask that He help me with how I even think about it.

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