CREATIVE TIPS ON TIME USAGE

HI! What a week to talk about time usage! We are busy, busy, busy. It seems like any lazy days of summer are being made up for in the first week of August for our family. Just alot going on around here and I know the peaches will soon be ready. I also need to be thinking about getting blueberries. I suppose there are more blackberries out there waiting to be picked as well. Thankfully, they ripen a bit slower than the black raspberries and waiting for them to reach a full maturity is best. (Wow, does that sound like an excuse or what?!)

I was pondering giving a few hints on time well-spent. The Bible says we are to redeem the time for the days are evil. (Read Ephesians 5:15-16) Our family hasn't had television for years. We own a tv set, but didn't have an antenna, cable, or dish. So we just watched movies when we felt like sitting down in front of the tv for awhile. Over the years, we have collected a huge library of quality viewing. Clint is a "western" fan and there's scarcely a famous western he doesn't own.

Recently when all the tv stuff changed, my mom was unable to get many channels no matter what she seemed to try. She decided that for her lifestyle and with the winter coming on, a dish was the best option. She had one installed and since she lives in an apartment that is part of our house, other tv's could be hooked in as well. She encouraged us to get ours attached as well and gave us the hook up as a gift. So for a week now, we've been enjoying programming for the first time in years.

I was hesitant to hook into it at first, feeling it would compromise family time or time that we used to read the Bible. I think it could if we let it, but I have to say that it's been a blessing in other ways. For instance, I have been consistently getting to watch a favorite Christian teaching program that I never could see otherwise. Each morning I spend a half hour watching. I decided the best way to redeem this time is to keep a needlework project by my chair and work on it during that half hour. I think I will soon see results that go something like this: projects that are otherwise laid aside, never to be finished or at least put off for years, will now get done in a timely manner.

Another time saving hint. If you are like me and buy ground beef in large packages, try this: I save some of it in ziploc bags for the freezer but have found that immediately frying some of it and then freezing it gives me more options. A quick bit of pre-cooked burger will heat up for casseroles or tacos very fast if you are in a hurry. It's already cooked and drained and that saves time when you have to cook supper in a hurry. I think I gave this hint once before, but in case not, here goes: at the beginning of the week cook a roast, a whole chicken, and a bunch of hamburger. These three meats will carry you through a lot of meals if they are all prepared. Your options are endless. Of course, be careful not to let them get old. Use them in a timely manner. But roast can be roast one night, beef and noodles the next. Chicken that was pressure cooked can be chicken and noodles, chicken and dumplings, etc., etc. Cooked hamburger options are endless. See if that one day of meat cooking saves you time. Freeze what you can't use quickly for another hurried day.

Another way to redeem time: If you have a favorite program, tv or radio, that you feel you must watch, redeem the time by doing another project during the sitting time. For instance you could snap beans at the same time, do needlework, or dust the room the tv is in! I have decided to not let the tv rule me. At the same time I'm getting great encouragement from the Christian teaching. I remember a time when our adult Sunday School class challenged each other to go without television viewing for a week. I found it was detrimental to me. At that time we had television and I looked forward each evening to a time of relaxation gathered around some quality programs with the kids and Clint. During that week instead of doing other creative things with the time, like playing games, etc., I found myself working non-stop! I just never sat down in the evening. I had to find other work to do to keep me away from the tv set. I felt I lived a bit more balanced life while I had my evening programs! I guess we can get in a ditch on either side of a road!

Well, isn't summer a fitting season to speak of redeeming time? The gardens and orchards just don't wait. You either can or freeze the stuff while it's there or you lose it for another year. I think the lessons of the seasons go hand in hand with biblical teaching. You must witness and work for the Lord when the doors are open or you lose the chance. Be frugal with your time. It's really not your time anyway. I think if I looked at all my days that way, that it's not my time, it's the Lord's that He has loaned to me, I'd get more done for Him. Truly, the times are pressing for us as Christians to be about the Lord's business. I have sensed an increased urgency to be about the work of the Lord, have you? Blessings, LORI