Juggling Life And Productivity

I oftentimes feel like I haven’t done enough. I am a husband and father of two children. I hold two positions at my  church, student pastor and minister of music. By the time I wake up early to hang  out with my son, eat breakfast, go to work, come home and help my wife corral the kids, and go back to work in evenings of church, conduct a Student Bible Study or to an extracurricular activity to see students all time seems to be gone.

I wrote a blog previously and enjoyed it. I enjoy the writing process. It was thrown to the wayside. I love to read, but that doesn’t always work out like I’d like. I want to finish seminary, but right now it doesn’t seem possible. I don’t even feel like I play guitar enough. And honestly,I end most weeks wishing it was easier to just go somewhere and have a date with my wife.

Seasons of Life

Albert Mohler said something once that stuck with me about this very thing. In sum it was that life had its seasons of seemingly less productivity and some of more productivity outside the home. I have two children under four right now. My family is a priority in my life that really does require more time and energy now than they will at a later time. That is not to say that I will love them less later, but only that small children require more time than older ones require.

Here is the point. There will come a day when there is more time and greater outside the home productivity is achievable. That time is not now. But I need to make the most of my time now also. I need to be productive with the time I do have.

Priorities and Productivity

I don’t want all of this to seem like I regret having children because I don’t. I am incredibly happy to have them. I feel that God has blessed me with them and wouldn’t trade that to have more time to do other things. I am saying that I now have to think about my time differently.

Everyone has 24 hours in a day. It’s not like I can Jack Bauer every 24 hour cycle and just not rest. I am supposed to have about 16 or 17 hours left in my day after sleep is counted. Not sleeping is not an option. God created the world with a rhythm of productivity and rest and my sleep time is deducted at the beginning from that allotted time. Now, what will I do with that time?

This is where viewing time the right way will be helpful. God has allotted each one of us with a certain amount of time on this earth. Once it’s gone you can’t get it back. It is gone forever. So, I need to spend it properly and be a good steward of the time God has given me. I must prioritize my time and my life. Here are some scheduling thoughts.

As a  Christian I need to prioritize Scripture reading and prayer. This will look different for everyone. I do my Bible Reading and prayer before bed. I am more awake at that time and the morning is dominated by watching my 3 year old son. He just tried to move the chair in just the right place to get cookies off of the refrigerator after I moved them out of the cabinet because he figured out he could move the piano bench and climb onto the counter to get them. I set aside that time to spend with the Lord and I need to be able to watch my son in the morning. My wife is up a few times a night with our daughter, so for the time being I get up with Haddon or else I would run the risk of allowing my wife to become exhausted.

Family is a priority. I could probably spend 12 hours a day working but I don’t. Why? Because family is a priority. My wife and my  children must fall high on my priority list if I’m going to spend my time well. And with two small children this priority will take up a lot of my time. Then there’s the question of time with your own parents. Biblically we are to honor our Father and Mother, surely that means I need to spend time with them. This will, however, look different for everyone. I will have to spend more time and effort to be with my own parents when they are unable to travel or need care. If you don’t live near your parents then going to see them becomes a scheduling priority but not something you have to consider as regularly as someone who does live near their parents. So, this could look much different in your life than mine.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in recent years it’s that we need to have friends in our lives. We can’t navigate this world alone. So, they have to be a priority in our lives. How often you see them and talk with them is sometimes tough to navigate due to the time given elsewhere. But it needs to be navigated rather than neglected and this can be tough to do at times.

My job is further down the list. This is very difficult for some people to do but is necessary. I am a Christian husband and father who is a student pastor and music minister, not a student and music minister who has a wife and children and is a believer. My work doesn’t define me and overshadow the rest of my life and steal time away from my family or time with God. I have to prioritize and in so doing my job is further down the list.

I think that what is written here is sufficient for beginning a thought process about stewarding our time. It is putting this into practice that is tough.

A Little End of Post Honesty

There are days when I have to look back at the way I’ve spent my time and say that I didn’t spend it well. Some days I work too much. Other days I don’t make time for my wife. There are days when i watch too much television. There are times when I spend too much time on the computer. There are days when I don’t spend enough time with my kids. Through it all I must remember that Christ’s sacrifice is sufficient to cover over my failing to spend my time well. I trust in His finished work, repent, and do better tomorrow.

My son just delivered a headbutt to my stomach. It’s time to wrestle.

R. Dwain Minor

Image Attribution: By Sun Ladder (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons