One thing I have learned is that time well spent doesn’t happen on its own. My husband and I just returned from our annual vacation and it is during this week that we have become intentional in making better use of the time away from home.  Vacations in the past always involved too much activity with very little time for refreshing.  I will never forget complaining about getting up at the break of dawn to rush out the door so we could beat the crowds.  Those were fun days but exhausting and I would always wish for a few extra days to recuperate from vacation.  We knew that something had to change and in order to have time well spent we had to make the best use of our time as  Ephesians 5:15-17 instructs;

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.  Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 

If time well spent is the goal, then we need to understand what scripture means by making the best use of the time which is “redeeming the time” according to the King James. Redeeming means to rescue from loss.  I have always misunderstood the redeeming of time in this scripture to mean that God would make up for the time that I wasted in other activities, when I should have been focused on his kingdom, my family, etc.  I was just fooling myself , there is no extra time given to us on this earth.  When it is gone, it’s gone.

My husband is very disciplined in his weekly exercise and has committed to working out 5-6 days a week.  By doing this, when opportunity comes up to do God’s will for his life, he is able bodied to do so.  He understands that time well spent today has a future reality but if he were to be so rigid in his exercise that when opportunity arose to do God’s will and he didn’t take it, then he has not made the best use of his time. He didn’t rescue the time from being lost.

Haven’t we all been there?  Have we overscheduled our lives or been too rigid with our schedules to the point that when God says go, we are too busy?  Do you feel as if every moment has to be filled or you have missed something?  We can choose to walk unwisely and become victims of our lack of wisdom, or we can draw close to the Father and know His will and make the best use of our time.  Romans 12:1-2 instructs;

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God-this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.

We are to be holy and pleasing to God by the renewing of our minds.  While on vacation, this has become a time of refreshing for us in our relationship with each other but mostly with our relationship with God.  We have become intentional in making this a time well spent by knowing God’s will, because we know that He has a work and a plan ahead of us.  There’s a great little park near where we vacation, that has a beautiful little creek running through it.  One of my favorite spots is on the swing near the creek, so I can watch Phil fly fishing and hear the sound of the rushing water.  It’s there I take my Bible, journal and a willingness to open my heart up to the Lord and hear from Him.  I have learned so much about His character, His grace and His plan in these moments and I cherish the time we have away to really step back from the busyness of life and rest in Him.

It is so easy to conform to the pattern of this world if we allow it to happen.   Some of it may seem really good, especially scheduling activities for our kids or physical exercise, but if it is getting in the way of God’s will, we are being unwise with our time.  Vacations were always an escape from reality and I never once considered it for the purpose of redeeming  time.  When we look at it from a heavenly perspective, any time spent, whether it is a vacation, daily exercise, after school activities, even our work , should be the best use of our time.

I have been the greatest abuser of my time especially when it comes to doing God’s will or even knowing His will.   I am learning each day that if I am a true believer in Christ, then I need to act like a true believer.   There’s a lyric from a song True Believers written by Phil Keaggy that says,

True believers stand on every word You say, The true believers made alive in Christ today, This is how we survive and where we mean to stay.

Stand on every word!!  The only way to stand on every word is to know His word! By knowing His Word then we will know His will for our lives so that when the time comes, we will make the best use of our time without hesitation or thought.  I pray that each one of us, myself included, will begin to seek his will so that every moment is the best use of our time.

Blessings!!