Hard Truth // You Need MarginSample

Doing Too Many Things?

There are twenty-four hours in every day. We wish for more. We often act as if there were more: stay at work a little longer; stay up a little later, cram a bit more in. No matter what we do, though . . . still only twenty-four. God’s set the length. He’s also set the absolute number of those twenty-four-hour days each of us will ever get. We often act, though, as if that too weren't settled, as if our earthly days might stretch on forever. They won’t:

“Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass.” (Job 14:5)

Our time is scarce—it’s limited and there’s less than we’d like. How we allocate it, therefore, how we run our calendars, matters. If we’re not intentional, external factors will govern the allocation: things that are more urgent will claim top priority. The problem is, urgent things aren’t always important things. In fact, many unimportant things become urgent if we let them: e.g., we sign up for something, maybe simply because someone asked us to or because everyone else is signing up, and its demands escalate and it begins to take too much time. This happens some and we default into calendars that don’t reflect our true priorities. We end up with days filled, but with the wrong things.

Okay, so what do we do?

Look at your weekly calendar. Grab some paper.  List the major items. Then sort it by importance (not urgency). What’s most important to you? Most important to God? Now, brother, begin to cut from the bottom, from what’s least important. Go up as far as you can. Cut what you can right now, and commit to phase out what you must, over time.