It all began on a Monday afternoon. I was sitting at my desk at home, working on our church’s new website. It has been in the working for a long time, so I was intensely trying to finish it as the deadline was drawing near.
I often lose track of time when buried in technical work, so I took a break when I realized that hours had passed. I closed my laptop and swung my chair around to discover that a hurricane had blasted through my room. Looking out the window, I quickly concluded that it wasn’t a natural disaster. But peaking into our living room made me suspect it had everything to do with our perfect kids. Funny enough, I had used my noise-canceling earplugs while working, so I hadn’t noticed them playing behind me (that’s an excellent commercial right there).
Cleaning After a Hurricane
I told myself, “Well, it’s time to clean up.” So I did what any dad do in the hurry of the moment. I shoved all the toys into a closet for the kids to deal with later. So satisfying! Then I went and found a handheld vacuum cleaner. I began vacuuming the room. But after a minute, I stopped. I started thinking about the length of the vacuum’s battery life since the battery is tiny. So, I turned it off, found my wife and asked her, “Hey love. How long time does it run for?” She answered, “Six minutes.”
SIX MINUTES? WHAT! Who makes a vacuum cleaner run for six minutes with a fully charged battery?
What would you do if you were in a similar situation?
The (Genius) Plan
For me, it was clear. I had to make a plan. A good plan. So I first cleared the floor of any obstacles. I grabbed our suitcases from the floor and placed them on the bed. I made sure there weren’t any toys lying around. No pillows. No cables. No pennies. Nothing.
Next, I thought, “I need to find the best strategy to vacuum in the least amount of time but still get the job done.” So my God-given brain scanned the room, analyzed it, and calculated the best route.
You ask, “Who does that?” Yes, I have issues.
At last, I pressed “start” on the vacuum cleaner and game on!
Believe it or not, I busted out my plan and cleaned the room in less than six minutes. There was battery left when I finished and the experience was reasonably pleasant (as much as cleaning can be). Now that’s satisfying—not like these YouTube videos you watch.
Every Second Count
When I sat down again to work, I began thinking about how every second had counted. Although it was a trivial matter, the experience and result would have been different if I hadn’t been purposeful in my cleaning.
The incident made me reconsider how I spent my time. It’s easy to think we are going to live a long life and grow old, but as a dear friend’s situation recently reminded me—we aren’t promised tomorrow. God has numbered our days and knows how many we have left. We don’t. Shouldn’t that reality make us consider how to make the most of the precious time God has given us? Psalm 90:12 says, “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” Our days are numbered, so let’s make them count.
Pause, Reevaluate and Plan
What will it look like if you hit pause, reevaluate your life and priorities, and then make a plan for how you can make it count to the fullest for eternity and God’s glory so that when you see Christ, He will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:24)?
Remember Tim Challies‘ wise words, “If you fail to plan you plan to fail.” So consider what you can do differently today in your pursuit of Christ to make every second count for eternity.
For further reading: Check out my buddy Reagan Rose’s article, “4 Reasons Time is Precious – Jonathan Edwards” on the Redeeming Productivity blog.
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