Time Managment: Principle 3

We studh the third principle of time management;

PLAN

Once your purpose and priorities are settled, then you’re ready for the third time-management word – PLAN. A wise Methodist layman taught this biblical principle – “He who fails to plan, plans to fail.” Paul gave very similar advice to the Ephesians: “Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity.” (Ephesians 5:15-16)

We seem not to have time to get everything done.  We will be amazed at how much more time we had once we started planning each hour rather than just letting many of them slip through my fingers. There is much truth in this simple rhyme: “Let a daily list guide each day or time like a ghost will slip away.” 

Except when you’re on vacation or on Sundays, have a written plan to guide each day. The list can be on your hand-held computer or you can use an old-fashioned written copy. Each 24-hour period is precious and unrepeatable. The Psalmist said, “This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalms 118:24)

The late MacDonald Carey, rightly said,”Like sands through an hourglass, so are the days of our lives”? He’s right, you know. And sand never runs upward in the hourglass. Each grain of sand, like each day, is unrepeatable. It is a distinctive 24-hour gift from God, and we are stewards of each day. If we know our purpose, we can devise our priorities. Then if we express those priorities through a daily plan, we will become excellent managers of time.

And guess what – none of us ever writes the last chapter of our lives. That is in the hands of God. You could use a baseball term and say that God is our great “closer.” God completes our earthly story with his holy benediction, and escorts us across the great divide into eternity. Paul expressed it this way: “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:16)

The cure for the “hurry” disease is to know your purpose, establish your priorities, and day by day, work your plan. And to God be the glory.