Redeeming the Time

Sorry for the quiet week. There have just been other activities that have taken precedent over blogging this week, and I'm quite alright with that arrangement.

After reading this article from Desiring God last week about making the most of my commute, I decided to work on memorizing some of 1 Peter 1 while I was driving to and from work each day. Memorization has always been an activity that has blessed me greatly, but I am terrible at setting aside focused time to actually do it. So I loaded an audio version of 1 Peter 1 onto my iPod and began Monday morning.

Well, it turns out that 40 minutes goes a long way toward memorization! I have really been missing out on valuable time each day. On top of that, it has been so encouraging to spend that much time reflecting on the Word of God. It made me wonder what other time I have been missing.

There are so many things I want to do - read more books, spend more time building relationships with people, pray more, run more, craft more...the list goes on. But now that I am working full time, for the first time in my life I don't feel like I have enough time to accomplish everything. And really, I probably don't. I only have a certain number of hours that aren't taken up with work and sleep. However, this week has made me realize that I probably have more time available than I think I do.

I have seen fruit this week from just redeeming the time spent in my commute. What would happen if I began to redeem the time in the morning while I get ready for my day? Or the time that I walk with co-workers on my lunch break? Or the time spent cooking dinner? It's not that those activities are bad - they aren't. Actually, most of them are necessary and beneficial. But my desire shouldn't be to just avoid sin as I live, but to make the best possible use of my time. Is my time spent cooking dinner only spent cooking dinner, or am I using that time to love my roommates by listening and talking with them while I cook dinner?

Don't get me wrong - I believe that God can be glorified in all of our living; our activities don't have to be "spiritual" in order to honor Him. But I also don't want to miss out on opportunities to make the most of the time that He has given to me.