Time Management

All of us who are passionate about ministry recognize that we can have competing interests when it comes to balancing our ministry and family responsibilities. If we’re not careful, we can yield to the addiction of busyness in ministry to the neglect of our own family.

“I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart (where?), down in my heart (where?), down in my heart. I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart (where?) down in my heart to stay.” We listen to the children sing this cute song and smile, and often we enjoy the motions and tune out without considering what the words really mean to us.

Every Sunday afternoon, I take time to review the previous week and plan the week ahead. It is a discipline that has been a tremendous help to me over the years in being proactive with my responsibilities.

Do you ever begin a new week with a pile on your desk? Scraps of notations from Sunday. Left over to dos from last week. Started projects. Unanswered emails. And on top of all of that, the needs and responsibilities of the coming week.

Whatever the reason, we are so often focused on the next calendar item that we fail to appreciate the company of God or those with us at the present moment.

If planning counts as productivity, the week between Christmas and New Year’s is my most productive! This is my week for setting goals and planning out the “big rocks” in my calendar for the coming year.

I don’t know if your life is like mine, but I find that time is moving at breakneck speed. I hardly get a new week started when it seems like the week is over and I am looking at a new week. They say that time moves quicker the older you get. I don’t know why that is, but it certainly seems true.

I am not a neat freak. In fact, the title of this little article is extremely descriptive of my natural tendencies. I have no patience for those who waste valuable time making sure all the paper clips in their desk are in perfect order, all the pencils point the same direction, and any papers are stacked as neatly and squarely as when they came in the original ream from the office supply store.

Developing balance is an ongoing pursuit in the life and heart of every spiritual leader. In fact, it’s been a quest in my life and ministry for over thirty years. I definitely have not arrived, but here are a few guidelines that I have tried to practice in balancing my schedule.

If I had a nickel for every time I have to push past rarely-worn clothes in my closet…I wouldn’t have very many nickels. And that is by conviction. (That is, by a conviction about not having a cluttered closet, not by conviction about not owning many nickels. I have no conviction against owning nickels.)

I’m going to postulate about your weekly schedule: it is too full. And I’m going to make another assumption: there is something you are regularly doing that can be removed. Am I accurate? If I was accurate on the first point, I can guarantee you that I’m accurate on the second. (If you’re not convinced, keep reading.)

Sometimes I think multi-level and multi-directional thinking is a strength. It helps me quickly assess what needs to be done and to delegate. More often, however, I’m learning that it is a weakness.

My family thinks I’m a neat freak. I think I’m just orderly. (Well, maybe it is a little over the top to look forward to a day off so I can clean out my closet.) But in all seriousness, whatever your personality type or personal level of clutter comfort, disorganization and excess clutter will waste your time and focus. And worse, it is the enemy of availability.

In early 2011, my health made it necessary to take some medical and rest leave. I knew that the Lord would use this time in my life to help me make significant mid-course adjustments. But far beyond schedule or administrative changes, the Lord gave me a full journal of scriptural insights regarding stewarding my life as a whole.

It’s staggering to contemplate the demands placed on Jesus’ life. Not only did He come to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10), but He was continually sought out by the multitudes. Naturally, once you heal a blind man and cleanse a leper, you’re pretty much in high demand!

What a missionary does with his time while traveling full-time on deputation will greatly depend on his family situation, but using that time wisely as a good steward is absolutely necessary. Here are some pointers that my family found helpful to use our time wisely, and yet enjoy the journey when we were on deputation:

Do you ever feel that you have more responsibilities than time in which to perform them? Actually, I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t feel that way! Thankfully, God has given us a resource to help us make decisions concerning our time. It’s called wisdom!

One of the defining moments in my life occurred at a restaurant table nearly thirty years ago. Across the table was a man who had been one of my childhood heroes. Years earlier, he had preached in our church and signed my Bible.

This is a message that I preached in chapel to help our students prepare for the summer months. The principles in it would be good for all of us.