Time Marches On

I was told not that long ago that you can't make time, save time, preserve time or otherwise manage time. You can only use time. In fact, the whole concept of controlling time is a completely western idea. We seem to somehow think that we have some sense of mastery over time. In reality, we only have control over the choices that we make in how to use the 24 hours that we've got in any one day period.

We don't make time, we make priorities.

Ouch.

I struggle with this a lot and find myself wishing that I could have more hours in a day. The reality is that more hours would probably just make me more tired as I found more ways to "do" more things. How would that help, really?

What I've been working on lately, especially after reading Mark Buchanan's book on the Sabbath (a highly recommended read, by the way), is how to make wise priorities and use my time well. What are the things that are important to me? How to I want to use the time I have?

Here's how it goes. If I say that I really think that doing my laundry today is important and that I think that going to the gym is a priority but instead spend all day at work, come home exhausted and flop on the couch to watch TV, what does that say about where my priorities really are?

I'm trying to think of time as a resource. What's the term they used in social studies, probably in elementary school? An unreplenishable resource. Sort of like all the oil that Alberta is sitting on. We think we've got a ton of it - and right now it seems like we do - so we just keep using it up. Once we use it though, it's gone. It can never be replaced. Time's the same way.

So here's my plan. I want to call my momma more. Listen to good music. Spend time in good books and chatting with good people. I want to pray more, memorize and meditate on Scripture and journal more. I want to spend less time in my office, but work hard, and more time outside, to play hard. I want to smell the roses and enjoy. I want to fill my days in such a way that if someone were to watch me for a day, they would know exactly what things are important to me. I want to use my time well and make priorities that count.