T.I.M.E.

there is never enough of it, I find!! However, here are some encouraging words to help us make good use of our time: **from my notes on reading Small Changes for a Better Life, by Elizabeth George (I don't have the book handy so I can't properly reference it)**

"TIME isn't lost. We are the ones who have lost the use of the time allotted to us when we fail to take advantage of it for good, better & the best purposes."

Own the management of your life. Know your priorities.
"One's personality is molded inescapably into the image of his priorities."

Prioritize your time.
a) with God. ("seek ye first...")
b) with your husband.
c) with your children.
d) with family and friends.
e) for myself. (when you plan time for yourself to grow spiritually, you are re-charging.)
f) for the unexpected (learn to view PLAN B scenarios as opportunities from the Lord for you to serve someone else.)
g) for planning. Spend a short time each day thinking and praying about today and tomorrow. Allot another period of time weekly to thinking about the week ahead.
h) for work. (outside the home)

Learn whats important, learn to be more effective, learn to do things well with little wasted effort, learn to do the RIGHT things, the BEST things, God's priority things.

LEARN TO ELIMINATE - evaluate your day at day's end. IDENTIFY "TIME BANDITS" - read Titus 2:3-5 and list the 10 essentials for better living. Use the time bandits and God's list of 10 essentials and plan them into next week!! (btw a personal confession of a big time bandit in my life is this computer I am sitting at!! May God help me be wise in my use of this tool - a great blessing to have but often used by Satan to distract me from God's priorities for my time!!)

The mark of a woman who is living according to God's plan is that she enters each tomorrow with great excitement and enthusiasm.

TAKE TIME:
to WORK - it is the price of success.
to THINK - it is the source of power.
to PLAY - it is the secret of perpetual youth.
to READ - it is the fountain of wisdom.
to BE FRIENDLY - it is a road to happiness.
to DREAM - it is hitching your wagon to a star.
to LOVE & BE LOVED - it is the privilege of a redeemed people.
to CARE FOR OTHERS - it is too short of a day to be selfish.
to LAUGH - it is the music of the soul.
FOR GOD - it is life's only lasting investment!

and some more from Discipline, the Glad Surrender by Elisabeth Elliot.

Lover of all, O hold me fast by Thee
Ruler of time, King of Eternity.
There is no great with Thee, there is no small
For Thou art all, and fillest all in all.

The newborn world swings forth at Thy command
The falling dewdrop falls into Thy hand
God of the firmament's mysterious powers
I see Thee thread the minutes of my hours.

"I don't have time" is probably a lie more often than not, covering "I don't want to." Demands on our time differ, of course, and it is here that the disciple must refer to his Master. "What do you want me to do, Lord? There will be time, depend upon it, for everything God wants us to do.

There is always enough time to do the will of God. For that we can never say "I don't have time". When we find ourselves frantic and frustrated, harried and harrassed and hassled, it is a sign that we are running on our own schedule and not on God's.

It is said that Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission, once a year sorted through everything he owned. Things he had not used for a year were given away. He believed he would be held accountable for what he retained and there was no reason to retain things someone else could use...

weighty thoughts, eh??