I have been reminded recently of one of my favorite Sunday School classes: the class on financial stewardship. One of the reasons is that this class seems to create really healthy conversations for me and Anna Grace. One of the core concepts in this class is the budget, or "spending plan," which is exactly what it sounds like: a plan for when, where, and how I will spend, or not spend, my money. While the concept of a budget is most often applied to money, it is also very helpful when we think about how we spend our time as well.
One of the resources for our class on stewardship is the book Free: Spending your Time and Money on What Matters Most by Mark Scandrette. In it he offers the idea of thinking through how we spend our time by thinking through five areas of our lives:
1. Body care (sleep, exercise, etc.)
2. Relationships (family, friends, community)
3. Work (paid work, household chores, unpaid service)
4. Soul care (scripture reading, prayer, sabbath-keeping)
5. Rest/Play (recreation, vacation, etc.)
How many hours per week do you spend in each of these? How many hours per week would you like to spend in each of these? Do you have “time bandits” in your life that prevent you from spending the amount of time you would like to spend in each of these? Tracking the hours of our day and days of our week can help us identify exactly when, where, and how we’re spending our time, which then helps us figure out how we can spend our time more wisely.
Living life together in biblical community requires time. If we do not plan for people because we live with little or no margin, then our community will suffer. In Ephesians 5:16 Paul instructs us to make “the best use of our time” and to live as those who are wise. May we ask the Lord to help us make the best use of our time so that life together with others becomes more and more of a priority.
One last note: a big thank-you to Susan Norris, who inspired this article through her teaching on this topic recently in the stewardship class!
Ben
MONTHLY RESOURCES:
Here’s a recent article I read that helped me think through how I spend my time:
6 Marks of a Healthy, Well-Balanced Christian Life
Here's a link to the book referenced in the article above: