I’ve been on military time for years. My watch has probably been set this way since my freshman year of high school; my phone for the past two or three years. Which means there’s no reason for me to make a mistake calculating the time of day.
But TONIGHT… my mixed up brain literally thought it was 10:00 when it was 9:00!!! So I got ready for bed, and at 9:30 p.m., I’m all set to sleep!
My first reaction to this realization was a gasp of horror, that I could have gotten more “stuff” done tonight but won’t because I know how badly I want to sleep… But then my second realization is that I’ve earned back an hour of my life that can be devoted to writing this blog post, doing my devotions, AND getting another half hour of sleep! Blessings on blessings! Got to experience my own mini Daylight Savings “Fall Back” in the space of a day. So good.
This is especially amazing because of how exhausted I’ve been. A phrase I used last week was “There’s not enough hours in a day.”
When I said that, a mentor of mine told me (quoting someone else), “Marian, if God created twenty-four hours in a day, then twenty-four hours is meant to be enough to do everything He has planned/willed for you to do that day. If you don’t have enough time, then you’re doing something outside of what He wants you to do. So something’s got to go.”
That quote has been on my mind SO. MUCH. this past week! She and I considered what it is that has to give in my life, and we realized it was a couple of academic units. This semester has been really hard on me, and we realized it wasn’t completely necessary for me to be in eighteen units. So I dropped the fine art class I wasn’t even passionate about to begin with to free up some more hours in my day. Something went, and I’ve been happier, less stressed, and as a result more flexible to support the people around me through higher energy, better attentiveness to their needs (instead of focusing so hard on my own drained state), more availability to care for myself and others, and time for the Lord.
I had to get real with myself about what it is that I’m putting into my schedule and why. Did I need to take eighteen units this semester, or was I doing it just to maintain my selfish pride in being academically rigorous? It took kind of a smack in the pride to take less classes now (and still makes me a little anxious days later, I must admit). But having “life to the full” isn’t about a full schedule, but rather loving God and serving others in the fullest sense of those things, which requires us to be fully present. We can’t be fully present if we’re constantly worried about our class schedule and whether we’ll get enough sleep at night.
Anyway, I got on a bit of a tangent, but all this to say that 1. I’m starting to shape my time management around God’s priorities and not my own selfish desires (because, let’s face it: God knows what’s important better than we do, and our needs, when self serving, actually tend to do the opposite, exhausting us as we race to meet unnecessary requirements), and 2. I was blessed tonight with an “extra” hour in my day! it’s a little thing, but I’m appreciative and excited about it nonetheless. Yay for good time management, whether through intentional examination, or through silly, accidental time-calculating mistakes! Math isn’t my strong suit, but in a small way, God uses our weakness!
Anyway, I’m off to do my devotions and then REST. Good NIGHT!
“It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows; for so He giveth His beloved sleep.” -Psalm 127:2
The More the Marianer 