You need to treat your time exactly like you treat your budget. With your budget, you decide where each dollar will go before it leaves your hands. Do the same with your time. Plan how each day will be spent before it happens.
Here's the hard part...
There are a thousand "worthy" things to spend your time on. You have to get in the habit of ignoring a few of the "worthy" things for the sake of what is eternal.
This means saying, 'No,' to some great things that are important to a lot of people -- maybe even church things. That's okay. You're not really saying, 'no.' You are saying, "I have to stay focused on what is eternal, my family is counting on me."
Make no mistake, you are giving time away that you will never get back. Make every second count.
Questions to ask yourself before you agree to give your time.
- Does this help me reach my life goals?
- Will this lift my family up, or will it take me away from them?
To encourage you to draft your life goals, here are my goals:
- Have a deeper more meaningful walk with Christ
- Love and care for my family in a Christ-centered manner
- Be the right person in someone's path. Use my skills and talents to bless others.
- Enjoy life and take time to notice and enjoy the blessings of everyday life.
So now that I have my four life goals set I can budget my time around those goals.
So often, as kind Christians, we get pulled from here to there doing this good deed and the next good deed, but we never stop to check if what we are doing meets our Life Goals. Good deeds are great, but being tossed and pulled without direction, isn't good for our family.
Last Spring I noticed I was doing and doing and doing but I had lost my focus. I was PTSA President at one school, a PTA Board Member at another school, A Member of a Non-Profit Board, Homeroom Mom, and so much more. I started doing all those things to help my kids but what I noticed was all the meetings and obligations were actually taking me away from my kids. We didn't have much down time to just enjoy one another. I was being over-tasked with important projects, but my family was paying the price.
So, this Fall, I am deliberately taking a break from all my extra commitments. I am helping with the kids' classrooms as needed but I am not the Homeroom Mom. It has been a great Fall so far. The time I used to spend at night sending emails, attending meetings, and organizing events is now time I spend just enjoying my family.
I always think it is kinda crazy when other people want to read what my crazy mixed up dyslexic mind has to say. But so often my tips and posts are a blessing to the people in my path. So here is my Time Budget for the week:
- Find my quiet time for Bible study everyday, go to my Moms in Prayer group, Sunday School, church.
- Take care of all the household needs, help kids with homework, drive kids to and from sporting events, visit my 88 year old Grandmother, lunch with my sister, date night with the hubby, do more Mystery Shopping.
- Write my blog, help at Baylor's school, Help the kids write Thank You Notes, encourage friends, pray for others, speak blessings and pray to be the right person in someone's path.
- Take long walks, be thankful and enjoy life.
Time is the great equalizer. We all get the same amount each day. What we choose to do with our time will bless us or curse us. I choose to use my time budget as a blessing. This whole new way of looking at time as a budget is STASH Save Time And Stay Home with your kids.
