Wednesday, March 14, 2012

How Are You Spending Your Time?

If you are new here, welcome! I get excited every time I see a new GFC friend, and I like to get to know y'all :)

My husband Zach and I are blessed to be able to call "work" living and serving at a Christian camp in the mountains of San Diego. One of the many amazing parts of this being our jobs, is that once a week we get together as a staff and have devotions & prayer. It is so incredible to work somewhere that people can stop their busy days and sit together to worship our amazing God.

Last week's message really spoke to me. Well actually a few of them lately have really spoken to me and I hope I can get them into words on here soon. 

Teach us to number our days,
   that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 90:12

First we broke down how many seconds in a minute, to how many minute a day, to how many hours in a year. I liked that since I am such a visual, literal person. Then we filled out a pie chart with 24 slices, 1 hour in each, and filled in where we spent our days. Sleep 11-7, get ready 7-7:45, work 8-4:30... then what? This is where it got convicting. 

I will be the first to admit I really put the important things on the backburner first. I hate that about myself and it'd be the first thing I would change if I could. I have 5-7 hours of "me time" each afternoon. To do whatever I please with! And that's just on work days!

Next we did a little comparison.. these are based on if you lived for 75 years. My friend Mike calculated if you spent 3 hours a day on the computer [especially for us bloggers], in a lifespan of 75 years you would have spent 9.4 years of your life on the computer! If you have a hobby you spend 1 hour per day on, thats a little over 3 years of your life doing just that activity. 

Here's what gets me... most people spend less than 2 hours a week with God. Thats 1 hour for church and 1 hour spread throughout the rest of the week. Two hours a week for 75 years = 225 days which is less than a year of your life with God. 

Now people brought up the argument that everything you do should be for God's glory so then you would be giving all of your time to God. This IS a a valid point, but not really the point of the exercise.

I couldn't believe these numbers [ again being the literal person I am, I take this very seriously, haha!]. I spend how many hours a week reading blogs? How many hours reading tweets? How many hours watching TV? And.. how many hours do I spend with God?

Not enough.

That's the simple truth. I often think, "I should do my bible study" and then pick up my phone instead. And then I wonder why I do this. I hate it. When I do have a quiet time, I am so refreshed and left yearning for so much more. If I feel that way, then WHY do I resist it so much? 

I reached out to my friend Ashley and she made a really funny but really great comparison [which I wont post here but Ill email you if you want to know :)] and basically boiled down to this:

 It doesn't matter how I feel. God deserves my time, every day. He deserves my praise. He deserves my priority. He is worthy. He is faithful. And He is always waiting for me.

16 comments:

Kara Renee said...

I'm one of your new followers and what a great first post for me to see! Totally inspiring. Can't wait to see what else your blog has!

Katie said...

this is very convicting! I consider myself pretty disciplined but always fail to be disciplined with my quiet times daily. thanks for another reminder that i need to prioritize my time better and give more of it to God!

BeckyJo606 said...

This is so true! I don't want my life to be consumed by the computer and the Internet, but you certainly wouldn't know that by the way I spend my time! Also, I always think I don't have enough time for myself, however I have usually between 6-7 hours of me time in the evening. I just need to make better use of it!

Stephanie said...

This is so true for me! I always think I don't have "enough time" but if I was really intentional about sitting down and just being with God, I could make it happen. Great message!

Amanda said...

I'm pretty sure we are the same person just living on opposite sides of the country. =) I struggle with the exact same thing and this post was so convicting! Especially the part about only spending an average of 2 hours a week with God!! Thank you for being so real and so open about your faith! Love it!

Ruthie Hart said...

I love the line, God deserves my time. And I 100% agree. I hate that I put things before the Lord sometimes but I am working on it!

Lauren said...

I am guilty of having my priorities out of whack in a serious way sometimes... Which is why I'm so glad I'm focusing on it this year. I HAVE to carve out more God time - it's an area where I'm lacking and I don't want to be. For myself, and to set a good example for my children and family!

Tiffany @ Blabbering Thoughts said...

Wow. I am a new follower & I am so glad I am following you. That was a strong post. I love it. THANK YOU!

Molly S. said...

I flipping love you to pieces. This is so true it's insane. I can ONLY imagine if I spent as much time praising God a day as I do on this very computer...wow. It's crazy how we spend on our time and how we don't even think twice about it. Thanks for this post! :))

Whitney said...

K-E this is why I love you, such an inspiring message!!

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Oliviaaa said...

what a great post. I agree with you whole heartedly. I say I need to devote more of my time to God and my faith. To being the religious person I was brought up and feel in my soul to be, yet I can think of a million things that always come before Him. I'm looking for that balance. It is very tough. So nice to know that i'm not the only one!

Kasey Lynne said...

WOW. I needed this post.

I've been realizing all the things I do BEFORE spending time with God in His word or through prayer. I am a major slacker.

A friend of mine has started writing out every word in the Bible. From beginning to end, he's writing it all out. I thought that that was such a COOL way to really dig deep into the Word and to learn more...so I think I'm going to start doing it.

This is a good wake up call. Thanks girl!

Jamie LaFuze said...

I really needed to read this post. Seeing the numbers before my eyes was a real call to attention! I was even thinking about how much time I spend into getting ready, doing my hair, picking out clothes, exercising, etc. and compared that to how much time I spend with God. The beautiful part is that He is always there, and He has so much grace for my life.

Amanda said...

I just stumbled upon your blog today and I am so happy I did! So far it is speaking just what I needed to hear<3
Thank you
Amanda
www.insuranceoutlaw.com

Amanda said...

I just stumbled upon your blog today and I am so happy I did! So far it is speaking just what I needed to hear<3
Thank you
Amanda
www.insuranceoutlaw.com