Devoting myself to the devotions: Time management
This may be the most important conversation that you’ll have with a young disciple (other than the gospel). While understanding the what and how of spiritual disciplines is important, they only benefit the Christ follower if they are put into practice. This is done by and intentional use of time.
Many college students and twenty somethings live in chaos tossed about by whatever “urgent” thing demands their attention. Bringing order out of that chaos is something that we as humans are designed to do. As God’s image bearers we can hover over that which is formless and void (See Genesis 1:2) and as an act of our will form it and fill it. In the creation account in Genesis we see God do this and then we see him give Adam and Eve the mandate to do the same. They are to “rule and subdue” the earth which is their instructions to tame and care for the untamed wilderness of the earth. So how do we do that?
Reflection Question: How do I go about bringing order to my life when thing get out of control?
# 1 - Begin with the end in mind (this phrase taken from Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey)
Proverbs 13:4 tells us ”The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.” The sluggard is described as someone who takes action based on what they feel. Cravings are completely devoid of any forethought. You feel like eating an entire chocolate cake so you do and find yourself spending several hours on the toilet. You feel like buying new clothes but you have no money so you charge up the credit card with no plan for how you will later pay the card off.
Desires are different. They are depicted in this verse as positive (i.e. godly) and are desiring something that is not yet obtained. We know that they are not yet obtained because they belong to the diligent and diligent people are all about doing hard things over a long period of time to get a desired result. Having long terms desires (or goals) help us say no to cravings that may destroy us and yes to behaviors that in the end are going to lead to blessings for us and those around us.
A time management conversation shouldn’t start with a depressing dialogue about the nitty gritty. Instead it should start with vision. Help the new Christ follower pray and think through what they see as their preferred future both for the short and long term. The short term conversation may be around when they finish their degree or leave their company in five years. What is it that the person want to both be and do at the end of that short time.
The long-term conversation can be as long term as the person’s funeral. What is it that the person hopes is going to be said about what kind of person they were and what they did with their life after they die? This will help develop and idea of where they want to go which will inform every decision that they make about their time in the here and now.
# 2 Plan
There is a saying in business that you should “plan your work and work your plan” Proverbs 21:5 reads that “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty” Again, we see diligent people, not just staying faithful to whatever task is randomly set before them, but they first think through what it is that they are going to be diligent about. The result is profit – efficient and fruitful use of their time, while the one who works in unthinking haste ends up wasting time and not benefiting from their labor.
This flows out of the vision conversation. We ask ourselves, “ In light of my desired destination, what will I have to do with my time every day to get there?” The answer to this question is a to do list. Not the kind of to do list where you right down every kind of urgent thing you need to do and then start crossing it off. This kind of to do list is things that you know you need to do faithfully every week to accomplish your goals.
At this point in the conversation, I usually pull out a time grid. It’s a chart that represents 7 days a week / 24 hours a day. Before we start filling in boxes, I affirm the idea that the person’s time (just like their money, their body, etc.) is not their own. Colossians 3:17 states that “… whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. We are never off the clock when it comes to obeying Jesus with our time. It all belongs to him.
Now, before you start thinking this means no rest or play, a conversation about rest is in order. God is very serious about rest and relaxation. Humans were created on the 6th day of creation. Their first day on earth after being created? Sabbath. When Adam and Eve reported for duty to God on Saturday, he told them to go home and rest because that was what he was doing. In addition to weekly rest there are other rhythms designed into the creation itself. Every 24 hour period we see sun for half the day and darkness during the other half. It is a built in reminder that we are supposed to be resting every day.
In addition to these creation rhythms, there are also calendared events in the Jewish year that required rest. Three week-long festivals per year required people to pack up the family and the camping gear and make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. It was a time to disconnect from the everyday life of working and reconnect to God and each other. Not only were these festivals times of rest, but there was something called the year of Jubilee that was also instituted by God to be an entire year of rest every 7 years. In the year of Jubilee, the Jews would leave their farm lands fallow and only eat off of what came up as a result of the previous 6 years of cultivation. It’s where we get the idea of a sabbatical.
These rhythms of rest also include work. If you are planning to take off on the 7th day, then that means you’ve got to work diligently the other 6 days to buy the right to take off. The commitment to rest can often times also deal with the problem of being a sluggard and waiting until the last minute on everything. With these principles in mind, we can then take to filling in the grid.
When we start filling in the grid, we fill in the obvious first. If we are a student, we put our class times on there. Then we plan when we’ll study. This is where the vision plays into the conversation. If the person said they envision a 4.0 then they need to be realistic about the hours they will have to study in order to achieve that grade point. Next might be spiritual disciplines. If the person wants to grow in their prayer life, then some blocks of time for prayer need to be scheduled.
One of the revelations that we all have when we do this exercise is that our time is limited. The to do list that we made to accomplish our vision doesn’t fit into the 7 days/24 hours a day that We’ve been given. It is here that we start to prioritize. Getting rid of some things, spending less time doing others. Hopefully by the end of this exercise, some level of reality has set in.
# 3 Work your plan
Now that we’ve envisioned what we want our life to look like and made a plan for how to accomplish that vision, it’s time to just do it. Proverbs 12:24 tells us that “Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in slave labor.” When we roll out of bed on Monday morning and don’t feel especially inspired, we look at the schedule and we do whatever it says we planned to do during that hour. It is in this exhibition of self-control (part of the fruit of the Spirit) that we will see our vision accomplished.
Chances are, what we planned is not going to work exactly like we thought. We have to remember that we are not a slave to the schedule. It serves us and we can tweak it and change it as needed. What we don’t want to do is throw the whole thing out just because we hit a few snags. As a disciplemaker, you can help a young Christ follower troubleshoot their schedule until it seems to be a more realistic fit. Here are some helpful hints for getting through this process:
Get rid of time wasters
Start slow and celebrate small victories
Join up with a few like-minded people
You are not a slave to your schedule (evaluate and tweak weekly and semesterly)
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