Budget Your Time, Too
Theme of the Week: Take Back Your Life
Monday, May 25, 2009
 1 of 1
Key Bible Verse: Those who are wise will find a time and a way to do what is right … (Ecclesiastes 8:5-6). Bonus Reading: Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
When our son Mark was in high school, he was a successful athlete; our teenage daughter Kristen was an actress and musician. Both were in games and performances. I could have easily missed those events had I not penciled the dates into the calendar weeks in advance.
When someone would ask me to meet with him on the afternoon of a game, I'd take out my calendar and say, "Sorry, I already have a commitment on that day. How about this alternative?" I rarely had a problem.
I've learned the hard way that my non-negotiables have to be in the calendar eight weeks in advance. Otherwise, less important issues wedge them aside. First enter your spiritual disciplines, mental disciplines, Sabbath rest, and of course your commitments to family and special friendships. Only then—flowing around your non-negotiables—should you enter career- and service-related activities.
What are your non-negotiables? If you don't know the answer, non-essentials will elbow aside the necessities. Functions that make the supreme difference in your effectiveness will miss getting into your datebook. Neglect of these may go unnoticed for some time. But by then, it may be too late to avoid adverse consequences.
—Gordon MacDonald in Ordering Your Private World
My Response: I'll pray about determining my non-negotiables.
Adapted from Ordering Your Private World (Nelson, 1984, 1985) by permission.
Copyright © 2009 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
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I want to be directed by your Spirit, Lord, not driven by my calendar. Please teach me how.
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