Now that we’ve checked our minds and our hearts, let’s get to the life application of time management.

Refocus (daily living):

For those of you who consider yourselves Type A personalities (myself included), this probably sounds delightful. However, the Type B personalities might be cringing in expectation of what I’m going to say next. Yet, for both of you the goal is the same – God’s glory in the tapestry of your life.

Step One – Prioritize

This step might seem obvious. Priority lists are easy for good, Christian women, right? We obviously know to list God first, our husbands second, children third, ministry fourth and so on. But life doesn’t work like pencil on a page, one line never touching the other. Instead, it weaves in and out like a tapestry within a loom whose colors twist and turn intricately. Which color stands out in your life’s tapestry? How does the thread belonging to God’s glory look? What about the threads of family and ministry life? Do low priorities appear brighter and bolder than they should? Imagine that at the end of your life you get to see the finished tapestry with all of its colors, all of its patterns. What do you want to see?

Step Two – Cut Out the Tangles

A full planner and a busy, ministry schedule are not true measures of your spirituality or your importance as a pastor’s wife. Have you allowed yourself to fall headlong into the 21st century’s Christian ideal of busiest equals best? How easy it is for our threads to tangle or skip a loop because of a schedule that is busting at the seams. Before you continue on to formulating a plan, please step back and see which threads need to be cut or set aside for a time. Remember that our lives are to be handed over to the will of our Father, not the busyness of our ministries. Do you know that God can complete His perfect will without your hand in everything? Organizing extra Christmas events, having a foot in the door every time the church is open, choosing to take over a ministry you aren’t gifted at – all of these and more are tangles that can ruin your tapestry. Get snipping, ladies!

Step Three – Make a Plan

After you cast a vision and cut out those tangles, it’s time to take action. Our God is a creative and organized God. As individuals made in His image, we bear that same desire for order within our lives. Yet, just as each one of our tapestries will look different, the way we organize our priorities and how we accomplish them will also look different. For some, this means a well-thought-out planner (or my second brain as I call mine); for others it is simple, weekly lists on a fridge. My husband only uses his smartphone, and I have a friend whose mind retains everything without writing it down. The important thing here is to figure out your system and stick with it. It takes discipline and hard work. It takes prayer, asking God for His wisdom and strength. Yet, as His image bearers, we can truly glorify our God by giving attention to order and consistency.  

Step Four – Flexibility

Ladies, if there is one thing that I learned in small-town ministry, it is that farmers, ranchers, and blue-collar workers thrive on flexibility. Their schedules can change at the drop of a hat. If our tapestry is so tightly wound that we cannot possibly make room for schedule changes, eventually something is going to snap. The life of a Romans 12 Christian includes the changes God allows. How is your heart when the plans change? How do you react when you use half a bottle of white-out on your planner, or fail to cross anything off of your lists for the day, or press delete on your smartphone? When the farming family calls at 5:00 and says the 5:30 dinner plans won’t work out because of combine issues and could you move dinner to 8:00 instead (Yes, your kids’ bedtime!), what emotion takes place in your heart? Don’t let your plans become your idols. Your plans exist only to bring glory to your God, and your reaction to interrupted plans either glorifies or ignores His sovereignty. Your choice is to see the God-ordained moments outside of your plans.  

Whether you are a pastor’s wife who is a tried-and-true planner or a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants go-getter, the reason for time management is the same. It has nothing to do with you and everything to do with the One who has given us this time. We must remember our purpose, rededicate our hearts, and refocus the weaving of our tapestry. May God bless you as you seek Him and use your time, life, and heart as a living sacrifice in your ministry.

Part 2 of 2
– Part 1 {Time Management – Mind & Heart}