Where You Lead

Time

If I could save time in a bottle…

Time keeps on ticking, ticking, ticking, into the future…

Time after time…

Who wouldn’t like to have more time? We buy things that will help us to save time and then we spend more time working to pay for those time-saving things.

Too often, we spend our time reliving and reassessing the past or worrying about the future. It seems that we have no idea how to spend the time we have, this very moment.

I’m going to make a real effort to focus on each moment as it is, not worrying as much about the next moment, or fretting about the last one. Instead of spending time trying to save time, I’m just going to spend time living and loving.

How about you? How will you spend your time?

In A Minute!

Do you have kids? If so, you’ve probably heard those three words more than you can count. Whether we remind the kids to take out the trash, make their beds or do their homework, something else is always more important or must be completed first before they do as they’re told. Of course, that “something” is often a phone call with a best friend, the ending of a TV show or some online communication. It’s clear that these things that don’t seem important to us are very important to them – more important than obeying their loving parents.

As much as I’d like to think that I’ve outgrown that behavior in my own life, the truth is I spend a lot of time telling my heavenly Father “In a minute!” I wake in the morning, make coffee, see the family off to work and school then… read my email. I might check a few forums or read the tweets that accumulated overnight. For someone who starts her day at 5am you’d think I’d get to my morning prayers and meditation well before 10am! And yet, as noon fast approaches, I’m still thinking, “Just one more minute.”

Nothing I do from the moment my family leaves the house until the time that I actually sit down with my Lord is more important than my relationship with Him. Nothing matters if I don’t obey Him. Like a self centered child, I put Him off, telling Him to wait. Of course, just like one of my own kids, when I want something from my Father, I beg and plead because I want it NOW.

It’s time that I stop procrastinating in the morning and start making God my top priority. Email and twitter can wait. Chit chatting at forums can wait. My Father has waited for me long enough.

Important versus Urgent

He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will reward him for what he has done.

Proverbs 19:17

I’m a list writer. When I have things to do, I write lists. I always feel so good about my lists, and I love marking things off of them. And yet, I complain that I just don’t have enough time to do all the things I’d like to do. Just one problem with that.

I spend an awful lot of time doing things that are not on any of my lists. In fact, I spend more time doing the things that aren’t at all deserving of placement on my lists than I do on the lists themselves. That sure does make me wonder how much more I could get done if only I’d stop doing the things that are just not important.

Yes, I blog and I write that activity on my list. But why must I take time from my blogging to read over the celebrity gossip sites or eavesdrop on the latest forum fight? Isn’t watching a football game with my son more important? Or playing with makeup with my daughter? They’re not on my lists, either but they ought to be.

I want to give my time to those in my community touched by addiction but I’m always “too busy.” I want to get to Mass a few mornings each week but I never seem to get moving in time. All those things that aren’t important enough to put on my list are keeping me from the things that are important. It isn’t that I don’t have enough time; it’s that I don’t manage my time properly. It’s that I waste time doing things that do not enrich my life and sometimes actually bring me down.

Today, I’m going to try to eliminate as many of the time wasters from my day as I can. I’m going to spend time really listening to my sons and daughter about how their day was and I’m going to sit down and really talk to my husband. Today, instead of doing the things that bring me down, I’m going to do at least one thing for someone else. I’m going to reach out and make some kind of difference, even if it just means making eye contact with someone who is trying to share their day with me.

I’m going to let God guide my priorities.

Time To Praise

It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night.

Psalm 92:1-2

For quite some time now, I’ve been setting aside time each day to specifically pray. It’s true that I pray throughout the day – little prayers, quick prayers – but I’ve also made a habit of praying every morning when I wake up and every evening before I sleep. But what do I pray about?

My typical morning prayer is a plea to God to keep me and those I love safe this day. I pray for special things I know will be happening and for God’s guidance and safety. At night I pray that tomorrow will good and then I throw in a quick thank You for prayers that were answered.

And all that sounds like a monologue from one very spoiled child.

I know that God wants me to be happy and to prosper. God wants all good things for His children. God also wants His children – us – to praise Him. I do great in the praying and asking for stuff department but I’m failing miserably in praise for my Heavenly Father.

God has given so me so much already that the fact that I’ve neglected to praise Him is a point of shame. From this day forward, I intend to praise Him each day for all that He is and all that He has already done for me.

Please join me in praising God and let me know how your day is different when you remember to give praise.