There's no time to waste

Well, here we go again…another new year.

The start of each new year brings a sense of excitement as people ponder both the new challenges and new opportunities the next 12 months will bring.

And, it also reminds them of how precious time is. It is especially pertinent as a person approaches the end of their days. As Queen Elizabeth I famously offered while lying on her deathbed, “All of my possessions for a moment of time.”

Each person will begin 2020 with exactly the same number of days and hours. In the Bible, people are cautioned to “Be careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, redeeming the time…”

The word “redeeming” is the opposite of “wasting” and means to invest in something that will produce a positive outcome. As you consider your New Year’s resolutions, you might want to add a resolution to “redeem your time in 2020.”

Let me suggest some things for you to consider as you contemplate how you can best use the time you will have available to you in 2020.

Prioritize your activities

This item may include one or more major goals you would like to accomplish during the next 12 months. If so, develop a plan to achieve those goals.

It may also include a “to-do list” that lists your daily tasks, with the most important on the top of the list. Always do what is most important first, even though what is most important is often the most difficult.

Value every minute

Understand the value of time, Benjamin Franklin said; “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time; for that’s the stuff life is made of.”

Consider if you had a bank that credited your account each morning with $86,400, but at the end of each day wiped out whatever you didn’t spend, I’m guessing you’d make sure every dollar got spent.

Well, you have such a bank, and its name is “Time.” Every morning it credits you with another 86,400 seconds. But at the end of each day, the 86,400 seconds are gone for good. If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours.

Beware of wasting time

It’s certainly OK to relax. We all need to unwind at times. However, with time being so precious, we should make sure we aren’t needlessly wasting time that we should be “redeeming.”

Each person could make a list of time-wasters in our lives. They’re usually not evil activities, rather ones that have little or no value that we allow to consume more of our time than wisdom would suggest. And, they take us away from activities that have much greater “redeeming” value.

We may also waste time through a lack of organization. It’s been said that if you want something to get done, give it to a busy person. The reason may be that busy people have learned the importance of an organized schedule.

Value the time you have while you can. Time is precious, and we should treat it as a valuable gift from God by wisely “redeeming the time” in 2020. After all, we never know how much more time we have left.

The clock of life is wound but once, and no man has the power to say just when the hands will stop; at late or early hour.