Rev. Dan Albrant is pastor for Mount Pleasant and Mineral United Methodist churches.
Being a responsible adult meant that I needed to learn how to manage my time in order to get everything done that was on my “to-do” list. I wasn’t always good at it. In fact, I found that the more deadlines I had in front of me, the better I was able to concentrate and not fritter away my time. Once I got into pharmacy school, the need to hunker down and study and get all the assignments done for all the classes, helped me to quickly change my daily routine. Once that routine was established and found to be working, then life just settled into its normal frenetic pace. Once I graduated and began working as a healthcare professional, I discovered that I had to readjust based on the new expectations for each position that I occupied.
When I realized that I was being called to lead people in the church setting, first through Stephen Ministry and then as a religious professional, I needed to rearrange my time so that I could focus more on developing my spiritual self. Like everything that is new, it took some time and a few missteps until I found that new norm. When I added a spiritual director to my list of things to do each month, again I evaluated how I needed to adjust my life to make room for that blessing. Afte rall, I still just had 24 hours in every day, and an unknown number of days to engage in servant-hood to God and to my neighbors.
There is a truism that states, “how we spend our day is how we spend our lives.” It is good at the turning of the year to take a look at how we spend our days. When we honestly assess what happens in each day, when can then become aware of where changes could occur. For example, are our days filled with mindless busyness and distractions – things that may be necessary but which neither engage nor enrich our lives? Alternatively, we can discover in our courageous analysis that inertia crept in which keeps us from believing that we can accomplish anything. Along with the inertia is often a lack of belief in our talents and self-worth. No matter where we land between those two poles, it is quite likely that we will discover some opportunities to make some changes to how we spend our days and our lives.
God has a plan for each of us – we are told that in the Book of Jeremiah. God wants us to thrive and to live into the gifts and blessings that God freely gives. Jesus told us not to worry about much of what we spend our days anxiously stewing over – He says that we need to trust that God has it all under control and we just need to stop and see what God is doing. Once we notice God’s presence in our days, then we can go about readjusting our time management to do the unique work that God has for each of us.
The blessed assurance that we get when we follow the God of Abraham is that we do not have to be in control of every second of our lives. We can allow God to be God, and we can spend our days being beloved children at work with our Creator. How are you spending your days? How could you be managing your time so that God’s plan for you has the resources to become fully enacted? If you’d like to learn more about managing your time for God, I invite you to come to one of our churches this week. We are all engaging in how God is calling us to spend our lives in service to God and one another. Peace be with you all!
Arthur and Vera Pullin will be celebrating 70 years of marriage at a family-only anniversary party on January 24. Their lengthy marriage has resulted in two children (Susan Pullin and Jennifer Bott), four grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. Congratulations on 70 years together, Arth…
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