Creating Balance with Time

In previous posts, I have encouraged you to plan your day by planning your work. In order to accomplish the most, it is important to put everything into logical order; however, do not get so focused on the order of your day that you don't notice the big experiences that come into your life. There are two Greek words for time that apply here:

Chronos (Χρόνος) - Chronological or sequential time; and

Kairos (καιρός) - The right or opportune moment.

Imagine that a good friend has come to visit you. Your friend says that he or she would like to fix you a gourmet meal but, before preparing the dinner, a trip to the grocery store is in order. So, you get in the car and go to the store. Once you arrive at the store, you go to the produce area to get a bell pepper. Next, you go to the dairy section for some heavy cream. Then, you realize that there are some additional vegetables that are needed, so you go back to the produce area - at the far side of the store! Next, you remember that you need orange juice for the next morning. The next item is beef for the dinner - a totally new section of the store. Finally, you go to the center of the store to get rice and spices.

In this process, you have visited every section of the store multiple times! Since there was no order to your shopping, you have spent far too much time and energy shopping for the necessary items. If you had taken a few minutes to make a list and group the items by sections of the store, you could have saved a lot of time and possibly a lot of frustration.

Does this remind you of an unorganized day at work? Do you know people who live like this every day and plan each workday this way? How much more effective could you be if you just spent a small amount of time planning your schedule and grouping similar activities? A small investment in planning nets big results in effectiveness! This is an example of chronos - chronological time: planning activities in sequence and in chronological order. Very important.

However, you can focus so much on being efficient in your use of time and other resources, that you are not aware of how God brings opportunities into your day. This reminds me of the old saying about a person in the church: "He (she) is so heavenly minded that he (she) is no earthly good!" This means that an idealistic view of life sometimes interferes with the spontaneous.

Balance as a Paradigm Shift

God brings us unmerited favor with opportunities and options that we least expect. Be open to these surprises in your life. If we are so busy in God's work, we sometimes are not aware of God's working in our life.

Be efficient in planning the best use of your time. Be attentive to God's work in your day.