Time

    Laptops, iPads & Android tablets, smartphones and GPS navigators, what would we do without them? You’d think with all these time saving devices, life would slow down. But I’ve never seen so many restless and hurried people. If our technology delivered what it promised, and did what we purchased these gadgets to do (at least the excuses we used when we bought them), we’d have the time to spend on the things we say matter.
    But I’m afraid all we’ve done is added speed and noise. Dings, beeps, tap tap tap, sending messages about nothing to more people then ever. Rushing off to the next place, we get where we’re going faster, but we’re not all that sure of where that is. And when we arrive, we are out of breath. With all the time we’ve saved, why do we have so little for the things that are most important?
    Maybe that’s where the real problem lies. Maybe we are unclear as to what does matter most. After all, what is most important to you this week is what you spend your time on this week. I didn’t write down who said it, but I copied this quote years ago, “What I am doing today is important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it.”
    That’s what our use of time comes down to.
    In our Balancing Life series, I’ve been repeated the statement, “Clarify your values,” and then, “Set goals.” Because...values get fuzzy. If we don’t stop and remind ourselves periodically what should be important to us, the wrong things, often the urgent things or the tempting things, take precedence. When we clarify our values, we remind ourselves of the things that matter most. When we set goals, we take aim at those things that we’ve already determined are priority.
     Donald Whitney wrote, “The more scarce something is, the more valuable it is. Gold and diamonds would be worthless if you could pick them up like pebbles on the side of the road. Time would not be so precious if we never died. But since we are never more than a breath away from eternity, the way we use our time has eternal significance.” John Blanchard said, “To waste time is to squander a gift from God.”
    Every hour in every day is an hour that can never be reclaimed. How you use your time is not only important, it reveals what is most important to you.
    So how do you use your time? What matters most to you?
    “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” – Psalms 90:12