From Where I Sit

I Am Petitioning For Two More Hours In A Day

 Wow! Where does the time go? I was talking to a woman in line at Walmart and she said, “There just are not enough hours in the day! I want two more!” I chuckled with her and thought that she had the right idea. Two more hours would be really helpful. As I checked out, I thought about the things I would do in my newly found free time, should I have two more free hours:

-I would be able to spend that much needed time in solid devotion without interruption. 

-I would be able to do that exercise plan the way it’s outlined in the book.    

-I could get the lawn looking great!
-I could call friends and catch up ontheir lives.
-I would read more of those books that pile up on the shelf.

By the time I got to my car in theparking lot, I had added up about ten hours worth of things to do in my newly found two hours of time! YIKES!

Somewhere along the way life got really busy, didn’t it? I have conversation after conversation with parents who have lost sight of themselves and lost track of their relationship with their spouse because their schedules are so out of whack. Retired folks tell me that they are busier than they were when they were engaged in the
workforce full time. It’s almost as if someone is fast-forwarding life!

The world recently lost Coach John Wooden, the legendary mastermind behind UCLA’s longstanding winning basketball program. His biography is a masterpiece in and of itself outlining his strategy for coaching and for life. (2005 McGraw-Hill Books) He titled Chapter Ten, “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece.” This chapter really spoke to me about the way I choose to spend my time. His great wisdom from this chapter is that we should never say we are going to give 110%. It’s impossible to give 110%. The best we can give is 100% and only that if we devote ourselves fully, which is impossible. So instead of setting unrealistic goals for ourselves, we should instead set out at the dawn of each day to make each day a masterpiece of the tapestry of our lives.
Activity—to produce real results— must be organized and executed meticulously. Otherwise, it’s no different from children running around the playground at recess.

The Bible says something very similar, but of deeper meaning, helping us align ourselves with our Created Vision. For we are God’s workmanship, [God’s poetry], created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared for us in advance to do.” – Ephesians 2:10
Sometimes I wonder if I am too busy bustling through my schedule that I neglect the work I’m supposed to do for God. Sometimes I confess to God that I am trying to paint my own picture instead of allowing myself to be what God is ‘painting’ me to be.

Nope. Don’t need more hours in the day. God created 24 on purpose. Instead, I need to start and sign off each day in the assurance that I have lived God’s purpose for my life…my own description of God’s masterpiece: me. And you are God’s own description of a Masterpiece.
Cherish yourself and your life.

Paul