Time

August 05, 2003

Category: My Life

Lately I’ve been very frustrated over the restrictions that time has on me. There are many things that I am constantly thinking of that I would love to pursue. Some of them are GOOD things… things I think would make an impact in our world for the better. The 30 minute commute I have to and from work every day doesn’t help—it gives me just enough time to come up with more ideas!

Here’s a sampling:

Write children’s books based on the teachings of Ray Vanderlaan

Write books to my children as a father trying to help them through this life

Spend time during the day at my church enabling more people in the community to do good things

Create a website for my church

Write music and experiment with desktop audio publishing

Paint

Buy houses, fix them up and sell them

Take photography

The list goes on. I guess where there’s a will there’s a way, but man, I’m really starting to get impatient. Why would I have these ideas if there was no time to pursue them?

When I was in college, I vividly remember a sermon on this subject. The speaker was warning us about the temptation to want to pursue many things in the name of “goodness.” He said it could be sinful to take on too many things because we start to not do any of them good, and doing things with excellence is part of the Christian calling. Excellence requires money, time, experience, and grace.

This came in my inbox this morning:

If we look forward to something we don’t have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently.
Romans 8:25

Does this apply to my situation? What is this passage really talking about? Am I being unreasonable in my desires?

Posted by pablohart on August 05, 2003 09:39 AM

Comments

choosing the best out of the good is one of the difficult tasks of adulthood...and the journey of learning how to choose wisely is one my high school daughter is now embarking.

do you not see your journaling a form of teaching time being archived for your children...your 21st century book to them?

my struggles are the same in choosing the best, and sacrificing is part of the process. whether i sacrifice my timetable or the item altogether is a choice in itself. a recent discussion with another parent regarding this subject reminded me that is part of my job to guide my children now, and how to effectively do that is my dilemna today. this season of my life is now one of more sacrifice than fulfillment...sacrificing my pursuits to the demands of parenting.

being half-way through the "at-home" job, i am able to look forward to another season of teaching my children through developing my "own ambitions" in new and exciting ways. In this they will hopefully discover more of who i am apart from "Mom". is this not your own experience with your parents?

was not Jesus' time on earth one of sacrifice? His focus was always on fulfilling His Father's call AND AT THE RIGHT TIME...

Posted by shari at August 5, 2003 3:53 PM

I'm reminded of a Ravi Zacharias tape I listened to recently. He talks about various principles we can use to determine whether something is a legitimate pleasure (check out an excerpt here http://www.gospelcom.net/rzim/noindex/sliceprint.php?sliceid=66).

The last point he makes is that all pleasure must remain in balance, and I think that balance is what we struggle to achieve. With so many good options, how do we choose the best?

I think the first step is making our walk with God a priority - how can we impact our community if we are not walking with God? Next step is eliminating time wasters (t.v., internet, ebay:) so we have more time to do what's most important.

The president of Michigan Theological Seminary, Bruce Fong, has a sign in his office that says "Do one thing profoundly, and everything else well."

Posted by Dick at August 7, 2003 12:48 PM

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