Time Costs Us June 2, 2010

Ok, I’m about to be really honest.  I love spending.  I have friends who hate to shop.  Not me.  I love carrying and then bringing home packages.  Finding a great sale on matching Easter dresses for my granddaughters or a necklace that will perfectly match my daughter’s dress or catching a jeans sale for my son.  And what about when your friend’s favorite author just released a new book — right in time for her birthday?  Oh, and finding the exact color of flip flops to match the shirt you got for your birthday.

The only problem with spending is that it requires using money.  But what fun when God provides the funds to bless or surprise others…or to get something new for yourself!

Clothes, shoes and birthday gifts aren’t the only thing that require spending.  Another thing we spend is time. No, we don’t exchange money for it.  But we “spend” time by exchanging one activity for another.

• I’m spending time writing this blog right now which is “costing” me time to continue my laundry.
• We spend time on facebook or checking email rather than doing some household chore.
• A date night with our husband means we have to spend time earlier that day preparing food and getting the kids ready for the babysitter.
• We choose to spend time getting some extra sleep…and then pay later when the boss notices we’re late to work.

Our time isn’t limitless, so there are always choices about how to spend it.  Some of our choices are Spirit-led.  Sometimes it’s wise to get some extra sleep (when it doesn’t mean getting late to work, that is.)  The Holy Spirit moves in conversations that sometimes means lingering over coffee with a hurting friend.  A date night with our husband is worth the time spent preparing food for the kids we won’t eat and readying the house for the babysitter.

But the point is always this:  time is time spent. This means time has value!  Whether you are a stay-at-home mom or work outside the home, have small or grown children, are single and live alone or have a house bustling with people we are all busy ladies.  Ladies with time to spend however we choose to spend it.

Perhaps your heart is sinking right now.  “A series on time management?  Yuk.  I already know I stink at this and now I’m just gonna be reminded of all the things I’m not doing!”  Or maybe time management is a perceived strength and you’re glad.  “This is so timely…my friend really needs this!”

Whether how you spend time is a strength or a weakness, please join us.  Our blog team consists of two grandmothers with only grown kids at home, a newlywed who works full time outside the home and a stay-at-home mom of four young children — and we know that every season of a woman’s life makes time management challenging.

You won’t be getting lists or suggested schedules or many how-to’s.  But you will get to know us each better…and probably see yourself in our temptations and struggles to manage life in a busy world that we face.

Posted by Sheree