“Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in.” Henry David Thoreau

Well that’s a pretty free-spirited way to think about time! To Thoreau, time is like the water in the stream, continually passing by while we sit with our bait on a hook at the end of a line tied to a rod. I think his quote shares a vision of relaxation, spending time in an activity that so many enjoy and can relate to.

Time. We tend to…

list it…
prioritize it…
implement it…

We glance at a clock and ponder over a calendar.

Obligatory vs. discretionary time? Yes, we categorize it too. That’s a loaded one. Time can get messy if we become stressed when an activity takes more time that we anticipated and then cuts into something else we had hoped or promised to do. We have to make a decision – do I cut out on what I was doing before finishing to move on to the next, or do I complete what I was doing as that would be most efficient, then pick up the pieces of what was on the calendar. Either way, it is stressful to jump from one activity to another when we haven’t completed the task at hand, while the same stressed feeling is found when we endure to completion and are then late for the next.

I can tell you one of the challenges of working in foreign lands has been how the natives there value time in comparison to US. Many people who have traveled through the Caribbean for work will tell you the same thing – it’s difficult to accomplish tasks on schedule because the people there are more relaxed about time. It seems their carefree lifestyle transcends the need to get things done in a reasonable timeframe from our point of view.

I guess my point is this: Time is like an attitude – The more you let time control you the more frustrating your world may be (Click To Tweet). There is something that we can learn about ourselves by how we perceive and “value” time. It is one of our most valuable resources, but we are in control of how we use and perceive it, in so many ways.

How do you feel about time? Do you feel like it is passing you by like water in the stream? Is that good, or bad?

The post Time To Reconsider Our Relationship With Time? first appeared on I'm Just Thinkin'.

I can think of the following 3 groups of people who I should be investing in:

• The people who are within my circle of influence. These are generally those folks who are within the outer 3 circles in  The 4 Circles And The Great Beyond . I may at times be more intentional about some of these investments than others. One of my personal goals is to invite more new people to check out our church. Another is my deep commitment to spending time with my family.
• The people who lie outside my circle of influence. Influence on this group of people is extremely subtle and at the same time may be considered the most important. I can run across these opportunities to invest in people virtually anywhere. If I’m focused on this group I can even bring some of these people into my circle of influence. These are also the people who make casual observations about my walk and me in general. These observations and/or our casual direct interactions can have an impact on the impressions people will make on Christians in general… so I have to keep working on me to make sure that I am going to make a good impression and one that honors God.
• Me – I need to take the lead in this investment and make sure that I am focused on staying in a growing relationship with Jesus. I also need to stay connected with a solid group of believers as they will be investing in me (and visa versa).

In Whom Are You Investing?

How do you let the people who are most important in your life know it?

The post In Whom Are You Investing? first appeared on I'm Just Thinkin'.