We began this series with godly time management tips to manage our time effectively by studying the story of Creation from Genesis 1. If you missed that article you can read it here. Today we will finish off this series with two more tips that at first, might seem counter-intuitive, but are actually essential to effectively manage our time.
4. Rest Well
This might sound counterproductive, but it is actually an excellent way to manage time. We all know how tired we feel when we have a particularly long day. When we wake the next morning we are groggy, tired and lazy. We then might proceed to chug down many cups of coffee to get us up and running again. On days like these, it will be extremely difficult to be able to make much good use of our time. We will be pushing tasks aside and checking them off for ‘some other day’ or ‘when we feel better’.
God, however, doesn’t need rest nor does He get tired. (Isa. 40:28-31) He neither sleeps nor slumbers. (Psa. 121:3-4) Then why does He stop creating in the evenings? It’s to give us an example to follow. We all need the recommended 7-8 hours of sleep to let our body rest well and perform routine maintenance tasks on itself. That way, we will wake up fresh and energized to tackle the new day. If you manage to get to bed early, you will have a better chance at rising up early too.
Use your evenings to wind down from a busy day. Spend some of it with family, use some to analyze your day. Remember to also spend some time with God in prayer and in His Word then eventually go to sleep for much-needed rest.
At the end of each day of creation, God would analyze what He had done that day and see if it was good (Gen. 1:4, 1:10, 1:12, 1:18, 1:21, 1:25). Finally, He stepped back to take a look at all He had done in six days and declared that it was “very good!” (Gen. 1:31).
In the same fashion, we should analyze how we spent our time and see what was “good” use of our time and what was “bad” use of our time or just wasted time. That way we will get better at planning our days and using our time more effectively. Don’t forget, doing a lot does not necessarily mean that we have managed our time effectively. It is doing what is important that is the best use of time.
5. Spend Time with God
Spending time with God also looks like a weird way to manage time. But believe me, time spent with the Author of Time is well managed time. It is an investment that will pay dividends both in this life and in the life to come.
On the seventh day of Creation, God rested from all His work and set the day apart from the other days in which He worked by Blessing it. (Gen. 2:1-3). He gave this day to man so that man could enjoy it with Him. So that we could rest from the busy life schedules we have and spend it with family. So that we can worship God, the Creator of the Heavens and of the Earth, and get to know Him through His Holy Word and through the teachings of Jesus, to bask in His presence and to hear Him speak to you. This is the best use of time that I can think of!
During this time we can lay all our plans out before Him and he will show us which ones are the best use of our times, which ones should be carried out at a later stage and which ones should be dropped of the list. Wouldn’t it be better to actually travel a road with a guide that knows every nuance in the road? I firmly believe so. Nothing would make us happier than to spend time with God.
By spending time with God, we will get to know the perfect plans He has for our lives and then be able to focus our efforts accordingly. Isn’t that wonderful?
Conclusion
If we were to achieve to only save 10 minutes every day, at the end of the year, we would have an extra two and a half days. If we saved an hour every day, we would have 2 weeks at the end of the year! Imagine what good use you can put that to!
We must learn to manage our time or else, whether we like it or not, someone else will control it for us. Then we will quickly resent the fact that we are living according to someone else’s schedule, but will be unable to do anything about it. Making wise decisions today will save us from a lot of heartaches tomorrow.
Remember, time is linear. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. My high school director used to say, “Don’t waste time, or time will waste you.” How true!
I hope you enjoyed this article on time management. If you haven’t read part one of this article please click here.