With the New Year comes New schedules… at least for me.
I am a schedule person. I LOVE schedules… and organization. I have a schedule for everything and everything has a schedule. Probably the nature of being a first born!
“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” Ephesians 5:15-17
Time is our most valuable resource and it must be budgeted wisely.
I heard a great analogy about budgeting our time. Think about it this way: if you were to go off and spend your husbands paycheck in whatever way you wanted to, most likely you would end up not having money needed to pay some of the essentials. So, what do you to do avoid this, you make a budget. In the same way, you need a budget for your time…or a schedule. This way, you can make wise choices in order to make room for all the necessary activities in your life; making sure you don’t “over-budget” your time and end up with no time on the most important things in your life.
Sometimes, the word “schedule” makes people cringe and all sorts of excuses are thrown out.
“I’m not a schedule-oriented person”
Managing our time is not an option. Time is a gift from God and like all gifts given to us we must manage it wisely.
“Schedules mess with creativity and spontinaety”
Much like a financial budget, schedules help keep us on track. They help us keep a focus and keep track of how we are spending our time. Schedules can, however, actually encourage creativity…when we honor God with our time, He will provide those times for creativity and spontinaety.
“I make a schedule, try it out, and then it fails and I get discouraged”
Some of the best advice I heard was this:
You must be convinced of God’s mandate to use time wisely before you undertake making a time budget; otherwise you will fail.
Don’t begin to make a schedule if you are feeling peer presure, or guilty about wasted time, or even if you are greatly inspired by someone else’s schedule, because your motivation is misplaced. And when the going gets tough you will rationalize away your conviction and the guilt will set in. You must be absolutly convinced that God holds you accountable for every minute and that he truly cares about your times, otherwise don’t start a schedule. Instead… spend some time in prayer asking God to show You His heart for your schedule and how you spend His time.
Your schedule won’t and shouldn’t look like mine or anyone else’s. Some families thrive by rigid schedules; some by more loose schedule. However, there should be some kind of schedule or “budget” of your time.
I would encourage you to spend some time talking to the Father about how He wants you to spend the gift of 24 hours that He has given you. And not just once, but often. As life changes, so do our schedules. As we grow in Him, so do our schedules.
Join in the discussion today, leave your link below and share about your schedules.
What are your thoughts on schedules?
How do you schedule your family?
What are things you do to help you prepare your schedule?
Are there some things you are going to differently in 2010 then you did in 2009?
About The Author
Chelsey has written 50 articles on this blog.
Chelsey is a wife to one {for 17 years}, mamma of seven {toddler to young adult} and daughter of the King. Some days she’s climbing the mountain tops, on others you’ll find her trudging along in the valleys. No matter where her journey takes her, she know that the Father is guiding her steps. Leading others towards a vision of Biblical Womanhood is her passion! She invites you to come along side her in her little corner of cyberspace at Sharing the Journey. Chelsey also writes for The Homemakers Challenge and Visionary Womanhood. She and her family are also about to embark on a new journey overseas to the Philippines.
Great article! One thing I would add is if a certain type of schedule doesn't work for you, try a different one! Different schedules have worked for me at different seasons of life. Currently, I just write out a big to-do list and cross things off as they get done. I have had my days more structured before (i.e. at such and such a time do a specific task), but it isn't working out as well in this season of my life. And the to-do list is.
~ Carrie ~
I appreciate this post since I just this past month sat down to reevalute my time! I'm a visual/creative person, so I use color-coding categories to give me some structure as well as room for flexibility. Thanks for this.
I'm posting a mini-series on resolutions and will include scheduling in a few days. Right now I'm writing about Jonathan Edwards and his famous 70 resolutions. Several of them focused on how to best use his time to the glory of God.
This is timely for me– I just left my job last week to stay home full time with our soon-to-be-born baby, so I'll be figuring out a whole new schedule
oh I am a schedule orientated person. I find freedom and allows me to find creativity and more time for fun when I keep to my schedule;)
Wonderful post. Thanks the reminder.
Thanks, Chelsey, I appreciated your exhortation to be a good steward of the precious gift of time that the Lord has given each of us. Also, I very much agree with you that we must spend time with the Lord first. He will direct each one of us to how He wants us to live and use our time. Thanks!
Wendy @ Faith's Firm Foundation
I am a "lover" of schedules. I also love to do's and anything that helps to "organize" my time. This is what I needed to read today as I have felt "off" since my kids have been out of school for Christmas. Setting new schedules is sometimes what is needed.
I am definitely going to be less rigid in 2010 with 3 small children it is too hard to be rigid w/ my schedule. I realize I must be flexible. I'd love to see anyone's schedule to get an idea of how others do it.
i love schedules…but for me, scheduling is very difficult because my husband's schedule is so erratic, and he gets very upset about me having a schedule when he's around. Obviously, as a wife I'm supposed to be helping him, and pleasing him…so I don't just want to merrily go my own way with the schedule situation, when he doesn't like it..I can't seem to stick to a schedule during the times he's in the house, and it seems to throw our whole family's schedule off. When he comes home, everything that anyone was diligently working at gets thrown out the window, so I've had to throw my ideas of a schedule away…and try something else…
instead I schedule by routines, and I center these around the unchangeables…our meal times (and bedtime…though the exact hour of bedtime changes with my husband's whims on that too
). We have things to do before breakfast, and no breakfast until they are done…before lunch…before dinner…and before bed. This gives some order to the day while still being flexible enough that my husband doesn't feel like I've scheduled away his ability to be spontaneous. I also have different days of the week that are dedicated to different tasks…including my blogging, writing, and writing for At the Well.