Tag Archives: Time management

Did You Know To-Do Lists Are Scriptural?!

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Did You Know To-Do Lists Are Scriptural?!

Did You Know To-Do Lists Are Scriptural?!

I think time management is something that a lot of people, if not most, struggle with in life.  Even those people who are excellent managers of their time still have certain areas where they may be more lax or need some improvement.  Something that helps me tremendously is making to-do lists.  I am very much a list person.  To-do lists keep me on track, hold me accountable, and help me not to forget things.  They are also extremely therapeutic for me…more on that in a bit!

In my study of the Bible, I’ve discovered something.  God is pretty good at time management.  I know, earth-shattering news right? 😉  Really though, I’ve learned that good time management skills are important to God.  He is also a God of order and structure (for the most part…sometimes the way He goes about things doesn’t seem very structured in the beginning!).  God is a planner (see Psalm 33:11, Proverbs 19:21, Jeremiah 29:11, Galatians 4:4, and Ephesians 1:11 for just a few examples).  I also felt a bit of kinship with God because HE likes lists TOO!  There are lists all throughout the Bible.  He even gave people to-do lists. 

God likes to-do lists…He’s my kinda guy! #timemanagement

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Examples of to-do lists in the Bible:

To give you just a couple of examples… When God instructed Moses to build the Tabernacle, He gave him very specific to-do lists of how to do it and what to use (Exodus 26).  In Matthew 10, when Jesus sent out the 12 disciples, he sent them off with specific to-do lists of who to talk to, what to do, what to take, where to stay, and even what to do if and when they were rejected (Matthew 10:5-14).

So I guess you could say that making to-do lists is scriptural! 🙂  OK…so maybe it’s NOT a sin to avoid to-do lists, but planning ahead and making lists definitely has its benefits.

A few reasons for making to-do lists…

To-do lists hold us accountable—We are much more likely to accomplish tasks that are written down.

To-do lists are simply lists of daily goals.  We discussed previously that we are much more likely to achieve goals that are written down.  

Planning ahead and making to-do lists can save us time.

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9 Tips for Overcoming Procrastination

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Do you have a problem with waiting until the last minute? Here are 9 Tips for Overcoming Procrastination

9 Tips for Overcoming Procrastination

*Repost: Originally posted 11/11/2014

Okay…I have a confession.  I completely procrastinated writing this week’s post.  Typically, that’s not a normal occurrence for me.  Time management is usually a forte of mine, but I do tend to slip into bad habits and have a lapse of judgment from time to time.  I know, shocking, right?!

Anyhow, I had good intentions of writing a little bit at a time and finishing up over the weekend.  However, I did everything BUT that…graded papers and essays from my college classes, watched TV, went shopping with my mother-in-law for my birthday gifts (who could pass that up!), ran errands, and just really enjoyed not having to sit at football practice nearly every night (even though I usually did get a lot of work done AT practice).

When I finally decided to sit down and write, I prayed about what to write first (as I always do).  I apologized and told God that I had been procrastinating and that I should’ve started sooner.  I asked if He had any ideas for what He wanted me to write about.  Guess what He said…Write about overcoming procrastination.  Ha!  He’s a funny guy.  I love that God has a sense of humor. 🙂

Procrastination is a trap

Procrastination is such a trap because we don’t know what tomorrow will bring.  We may put something off until tomorrow, and then when tomorrow comes something unexpected may come up that prevents us from doing that thing we procrastinated.

“Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.” Proverbs 27:1 (NIV)

“Yet you do not know [the least thing] about what may happen tomorrow. What is the nature of your life? You are [really] but a wisp of vapor (a puff of smoke, a mist) that is visible for a little while and then disappears [into thin air].” James 4:14 (AMP)

Procrastination is such a trap because we don’t know what tomorrow will bring. (Proverbs 27:1)

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Overcoming procrastination is actually a topic we spend quite of bit of time on in the college classes that I teach.  I love showing this comical video clip from Ellen DeGeneres because many can relate (maybe you can too):

I created a handout for my college students with some tips for overcoming procrastination since it was a problem that many of them said they were still dealing with.  That’s what I’d like to share with you (and myself!) today. So here are some practical steps to overcoming procrastination… Continue reading →

Biblical Examples of Waiting

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Biblical Examples of Waiting

Biblical Examples of Waiting

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NLT)

I love that we can look to the Bible to learn from others but also to gain encouragement. We can see from many of the Bible stories how the characters, these REAL people, were often extremely relatable and went through many of the same types of things that we endure today—maybe not identical circumstances but comparable troubles and accompanying emotions. We can see that we’re in good company. Because ALL scripture is useful for teaching us, including Bible character stories even as adults, I often use “character studies” in my lessons when teaching where we’ll explore different Bible characters that complement our current topic of study.

Today’s post comes directly from a character study worksheet I use on waiting. There are several examples in the Bible of people who had to practice waiting for various things. We’ll discuss of few of them here. I’ll also vary slightly from my typical post format and implement some “practical steps” with some questions to ponder for each character study instead of waiting to include them at the end.

We can learn a lot from and be encouraged by the extremely relatable characters in the Bible. We’re in good company!

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Unfortunately life requires a lot of waiting

Unfortunately throughout our lives, and often on a number of occasions, we will find ourselves waiting. It’s just one of those unenjoyable life truths. A few things we could find ourselves waiting on might include (but are not limited to):

    • Healing
    • A marriage or relationship to be restored
    • Our future spouse
    • Child(ren)
    • Answers, direction, guidance, and/or purpose
    • A loved one to come to or return to God
    • Financial breakthrough
    • Promotion
    • Freedom
    • Justice
    • Change
    • Fulfillment of a dream
    • Fulfillment of a promise

Waiting can be an extremely difficult and sometimes painful process. Previously I wrote a few posts on this topic that you might also find helpful…

When You’re Waiting on God—to give some ways to wait and some encouragement throughout the process

Explanations for Why We Wait on God—to share some potential reasons behind the waiting

Scriptures for Waiting on God— to give some scriptures to focus on during the waiting periods

To supplement these posts, today’s character studies will give some additional encouragement and hopefully some relatable stories from the Bible to help and give some food for thought in the process of waiting.

Abraham was waiting for a son

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Finish What You Start

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Finish What You Start

We’ve been talking about time management lately. A good time management strategy is being able to manage your time well enough to be able to actually finish what you start.

Sometimes I’m kind of bad at starting several small tasks and getting sidetracked which then causes me not to finish any of them. For example, I might set out to dust the living room. As I’m dusting I start straightening up and picking up items (thus I stop my dusting before I’m finished). I notice a couple of my son’s things that he’s left lying in the living room so I take them to his room. Then as I drop of the items in his room I see some dishes that he’s left in there. Next, I decide to take those dishes up to the kitchen.

Once I’m in the kitchen I see the sink full of dishes that need to be loaded into the dishwasher so obviously I have to start working on that! As I’m loading dishes I remember that need to send an email. I decide that I better go ahead and do that before I forget. So open my email and before I write my email I see several unopened emails that I decide to go ahead and check. I think you can see where I’m going here! 🙂 I’ve started several tasks but have unfinished dusting, straightening, dishes, and an email never sent.

It kind of reminds me of this funny video on procrastination and getting stuff done…

Spiritual laws of progression

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Time Management–Priorities

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Time Management: Priorities...one thing is needed

Time Management–Priorities

“One thing is needed…”

“Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”

And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42 (NKJV)

*This post was inspired by Matthew Henry’s commentary on this passage of scripture.[1]

Many people often read this story and relate to one of the characters, either Martha or Mary. I relate to Martha. In fact, in the same situation, I can’t say that I would’ve reacted much differently than Martha did. If I was working hard and somebody else was just sitting around leaving me to do all the work by myself, I would’ve been irritated too! This is why it’s always been pretty convicting for me when I read this.

However, I think all too often most people read this story like I did and think it’s a lesson of how Martha was bad and Mary was good. Then about 5 years ago I got a different take on this story after reading Matthew Henry’s commentary. This isn’t a story of good versus bad. It’s a story of priorities.

Martha and Mary had very different personalities. Martha was probably a perfectionist (as many of us are), and Mary was probably a little more relaxed and laid back. Differences in personality are not wrong or bad. God does not want us to change our personalities—He just wants us to fix our priorities. Jesus wasn’t asking Martha to be more like Mary–He was just pointing out that Mary had correct priorities. Jesus also did not say that what Martha was doing wasn’t important—He just said “one thing” was necessary or needful (which was time with him or making him a priority). Like Martha, it’s so easy for us to get busy with the many things of life and miss out on the “one thing” that is the most important—time with the Lord. 

It’s easy to get busy and miss out on the most important “one thing” —time with God.

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Admirable things about Martha

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What the Bible Says About Time Management

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What the Bible Says About Time Management

When I teach my life skills class at Glory House, the women’s restoration home where I volunteer, one of the lessons that we spend the most time on is time management. We typically park on this topic for at least a couple of months. I think time management is an area that’s a universal struggle, as well as on ongoing one. This is probably an area where we will all always be working, growing and improving.

With all the life skills lessons there, we learn both the practical and the spiritual side of the topics. I teach how to practically apply skills that will help them to be successful if life. At the same time though, God has a lot to say about all of those same topics too. Today’s post is based off of our first lesson that we cover on time management, diving into what the Bible has to say about time and how we spend it and manage it.

When covering time management, I like to first identify that good time management is a scriptural concept. Below are some of the verses from which we can draw out some beneficial time management lessons (these are not the only verses on things pertaining to time…but a good sampling). Then after looking over what the Bible has to say, we can evaluate our own time management skills, which we’ll discuss how to do at the end of this post. 

The Bible has a lot to say about Time Management. #timemanagement

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Consider the following verses and think about what they might have to do with our time management or how they could be applied to how we spend our time.

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When You’re Waiting on God

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When you're waiting on God

When You’re Waiting on God

Have you ever had to wait on God for something? Are you waiting on God right now for him to come through in some way? Do you ever feel like God has forgotten about you or abandoned you? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then today’s post is for you!

Waiting on God can test a Christian’s faith and stretch it to the limits. Patience is a major factor in the process of waiting on God. Sometimes God’s timing doesn’t match ours. When God’s promise, our “answer”, or whatever it is we’re waiting on takes longer than expected, it’s easy to grow weary and lose heart. We can get tempted to doubt, give up and/or stop doing what God has told us to do in the meantime. However, if we give up we could lose the very thing that God is trying to do for us or bless us with.

Don’t give up

Regardless of how frustrated, doubtful and weary we get, we shouldn’t give up when we’re waiting on God. God promises us that we if we don’t give up, even when we’re tired, that we’ll get a reward and blessing. He tells us that he will refresh and satisfy us if we will hold on. Then he also promises to renew our strength and give us power to endure. God will give us strength to press on if we will continue to wait on him.

“Let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.” Galatians 6:9 (NLT)

“I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.” Jeremiah 31:25 (NIV)

“He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:29-31 (NIV)

Jesus endured, so we can endure

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Proverbs 31…It’s Not Just For Women

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Men should possess the Proverbs 31 characteristics too. These same character traits this passage praises the Proverbs 31 woman for having are also desirable for men. They are not gender-specific. ALL people, men and women alike, should strive to have this type of character.

Proverbs 31…It’s Not Just For Women

Proverbs 31 is one of those chapters that I think a lot of women sometimes read and then feel deficient. It’s almost like we can never measure up to her. I mean, really, who can do and be proficient at ALL of the things that she does? Talk about a Renaissance Woman!

However, recently I had some different insights while reading Proverbs 31 in The Message translation. As I read through the verses about the Proverbs 31 woman, I jotted down her characteristics in my journal. It dawned on me that it’s not necessarily the activities that she does that matter, but the character and traits she possesses are what are truly important. That should be our primary takeaway from the reading. Thank goodness because I don’t think I’ll EVER be proficient at sewing!

In Proverbs 31, verses 10-31 form an alphabetic acrostic, used here as a type of Hebrew poem about a woman who exemplifies godly character and wisdom from A to Z. J.A. Motyer says, “In the common form of acrostic found in Old Testament Poetry, each line or stanza begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet in order. This literary form may have been intended as an aid to memory, but more likely it was a poetic way of saying that a total coverage of the subject was being offered — as we would say, ‘from A to Z.‘”[1] So in this case, the Proverbs 31 woman exemplifies godly traits and wisdom throughout and completely. She’s the full package.

Proverbs 31 is not just for women

In part of my recent study of the Proverbs 31 passages, I came across a really good article by Rachel Held Evans. In her post, she mentions that the “target audience” of Proverbs 31 is actually men. I did not know this! Rachel mentioned that she learned from a Jewish friend of hers that in the Jewish culture, it’s the men who memorize the passage, not the women.

In fact, the men actually sing or recite it to the women as a way of praising and blessing them! This special “Eshet Chayil” song is typically done each Friday night before the Sabbath or Shabbat meal.

Here is a video of a traditional Eschet Chayil song with the Hebrew lyrics and English translation shown:

I LOVE this English rendition by Ari Lesser as he sings to his wife:

I also realized these are NOT just characteristics that a woman should possess. Men should possess the Proverbs 31 characteristics too. These same character traits this passage praises the Proverbs 31 woman for having are also desirable for men. They are not gender-specific. ALL people, men and women alike, should strive to have this type of character. 

Men should possess the Proverbs 31 characteristics too. They are not gender-specific.

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Proverbs 31:10-31 in The Message Translation

Below is a look at my takeaways about character from the passages. I use the feminine pronouns “she” and “her” when describing her characteristics, but read through them keeping in mind that we should all endeavor to display this type of character in our lives. Continue reading →