How does one determine the topic of one's first post in nearly 6 months? Normally, I just wax philosophical, or rant about current political affairs, or a bit of both.
Not today. I want to kick it off with a bang. Not only that, but I will write continuously and do very little editing...at least this time. Perhaps again in the future I will again be religiously Type A about my posts. ;-)
As you know, since February, I have been living back in Iowa, a huge change from California. Since then, I've been struggling with several issues, one of them being time management. One of the fruits of the spirit is self-control. That is one of numerous character traits that elude me at the moment. I mean, I achieve moments of self-control, merely fleeting glimpses of a life self-controlled and managed efficiently. How does one maintain self-control in the long-haul? Self-control is maintained by a Holy Spirit-driven life. Pardon the aviation analogy, but when we pilot the plane, God is the navigator; we achieve success only when He is directing our flight path. When we deviate from that path, we may, by either life experience or sheer luck, maintain the proper path for a time, but in the long-run, we will see ruin.
That's how I've been feeling lately. Been stuck in the self-navigation mode so long that my own definition of successful self-control and time management has become warped. Example: I'll waste nearly an entire day (yesterday), not attend church, neglect promised time with friends, and miss Bible study, but I'll feel a sense of accomplishment because I got off my lazy butt and mowed a lawn...something for which I get paid.
That was a sort of epiphany. I awoke this morning, pumped and eager for some quality time with a brother in Christ. I headed over to his house and we drank some Fair-Trade coffee and discussed life and God. After praying, I felt prompted to implement some new guidelines in my life to fasttrack this whole self-control thing. Mainly, I want to be proactive and plan out my days. James says that a ship without a rudder gets tossed about in the waves. We know this too from observation. In the same way, my life was going this direction, or more appropriately, was going in the direction of nothing.
A typical day would go like the following: get up whenever, might get to the Bible, depending on my work schedule, I would probably watch a movie or catch up on TV, get frustrated at my lack of progress, go to bed, repeat cycle... As you may imagine, this cycle is not only self-defeating, but also depressing after awhile. It does not reflect self-control, only self-indulgence.
What does one do when one cannot learn self-control? Penalty and a rigorous schedule to smartly occupy ones time. Therefore, for the next 30 days, I will journal my time, make realistic to-do lists, schedule my time through specific tasks (i.e. Bible reading, exercise, job, household chores). Additionally, I plan to do a media fast for the next 30 days. Barring family movies (currently my dad and I are watching the HBO miniseries "John Adams") and sporting events, both of which will be planned, my plan is to cut out the wasteful time spent on unplanned Netflix streaming on my computer and movie watching.
So these are some major changes I will be making over the next 30 days. It will be interesting to see how my relationships with God and people change as I cut out things that allow me to escape responsibility for a time and detract from my listening to God and others. It will be an interesting journey. Who knows, maybe I'll end up posting more...
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