Tonight I have been tackling my emails. I seem to stay on top of them momentarily, and then like a massive wave they come crashing down on me suddenly and I’m thrashing around, trying to find my way to the surface. Thankfully I haven’t drowned yet!
As people involved in a range of different ministries, I think we feel time pressures more than most. We know that our time is limited. We want to honour God with the time we have. There is more to be done than can ever be done. So how do we best use our time? How can we be productive, and not get lost in meaningless tasks, or feel overwhelmed and give up and fall into procrastination?
C.J. Mahaney from Sovereign Grace Ministries is part-way through a series on Biblical productivity. He’s written 14 posts so far, here’s 5 to give you a feel for what he’s tackling:
- Are you busy?
- Confessions of a busy procrastinator
- Roles, Goals, Scheduling
- Just do it
- Time. Redeemed
I also appreciated and learnt a lot from his interview The Pastor and His Time – part of the Leadership Interview Series. I recommend you download and listen to it. Among other things, I was challenged to make sure that I prioritise the important over the urgent – even though the urgent usually shouts the loudest.
To encourage you, I thought I’d share this quote (quoted by C.J.) on the foolishness of procrastination:
No unwelcome tasks become any the less unwelcome by putting them off till tomorrow. It is only when they are behind us and done, that we begin to find that there is a sweetness to be tasted afterwards, and that the remembrance of unwelcome duties unhesitatingly done is welcome and pleasant. Accomplished, they are full of blessing, and there is a smile on their faces as they leave us. Undone, they stand threatening and disturbing our tranquility, and hindering our communion with God. If there be lying before you any bit of work from which you shrink, go straight up to it, and do it at once. The only way to get rid of it is to do it. (Alexander MacLaren (1826–1910), Scottish preacher).
