Happy Monday Everyone!
For the next few Mondays, I’m blogging about buying time. In our fast paced, dot com world, it’s easy to fritter our lives aways on the non-essentials. But we cannot recover a minute, an hour or a day spent in unfruitful pursuits. Unlike money, once lost, it cannot be recouped.
So here this week’s list of three activities we can do to make use of those minutes we spend engaging in the daily tasks of life: driving, folding laundry, cooking dinner, exercising, etc. I have to thank Bethany at Flights of Fiction for contributing the wonderful idea #1.
#1) Bethany at Flights of Fiction says: “I was finding I could find the free time (i.e. not time taken watching the kids) each day to do one long thing. I preferred to write, so exercising usually got left by the wayside. Then I discovered the recording function on my phone. While I’m walking on the trail at my neighborhood park, I can speak plot for my novel into my phone. Then when I get home, I play it as I’m typing. Most of it’s already there at that point, I just have to add thought and spiff up the dialogue. But it’s a huge time saver! (btw I also tried voice recognition software but found it used more time than it takes to actually type the words)”
#2) Listen to an mp3 of a seminar in your career field. Since I write, I like to listen to teaching sessions from different writing conferences. But if you work in another field, you can easily listen to an audio book in that career area. One thing about this, I notice I don’t “get it” the first few times around. I often have to listen to something repeatedly (at least 20 times) for me to digest it. And then another 20 times to actually apply it. (I know, I’m a turtle!) I used to jump from topic to topic but then I noticed I wasn’t learning or applying anything to my writing. So now, I just focus on one thing and listen to it a bazillion times before I move on.
#3) Recite scripture to your children. If you have older children, this serves as a great way to help them memorize scripture. Print out several copies of the same Bible verse. Tape it around your house in areas that you frequent: the bathroom mirror, the kitchen table, the refrigerator! This serves as a reminder for you to say the verse to your child.
I just started doing number #3 last week. It’s an easy way for me to incorporate Deuteronomy 6:6-9 into my life. We’ve started with Psalm 118:24 “This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” It’s important to speak words of life to our children. Having these verses staring me in the face, reminds me of the importance of the words I speak to the ones I love. It also reminds me of the great stewardship God has entrusted us with the lives He has added to our family.
BTW, this is what Deut 6:6-9 says: “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
If anyone has any other ideas, feel free to leave a comment and I’ll include your idea in future posts (giving credit to you of course!). Also, if you leave an idea along with a blog link, I’ll include that in a future post as well.
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