Lord

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Time Is A Curious Thing

It seems curious to me that sometimes we get more done when we have less time at our disposal. 

Time is a curious thing

Obviously we need time to get things done, but more time doesn’t always translate into getting more done.

I’ve been writing this blog for fourteen years now. When I was working I had a very limited amount of free time to write my blog posts. Still, for the first eight years, I was religious about writing those posts, two a week. 

With my work schedule, the only time I had to write was Monday morning on my day off and early Saturday morning before my day got going. I wrote and published over eight hundred posts to my blog during those years.

In 2020 when COVID hit, life for most of us changed … and for some curious, unknown reason I started writing fewer posts. I only published one post per week. 

I continued that pattern until I retired in 2023. Then I had all the time in the world to write. Forget about writing just on Monday mornings or early on Saturdays; I didn’t have to restrict writing to my day off because every day was now a day off.

I could write every day, in the morning, afternoon or evening. I could tailor my schedule around writing or squeeze my writing into my schedule … a schedule that mostly focused on doing one main thing a day. 

However – and this is a curious thing – instead of becoming a more prolific writer, I could barely write two posts a month. 

And from there it only got worse. 

A month would go by – sometimes more than a month – and I’d have written no posts.

The question I’ve been pondering, and I’m sure you are curious about too, is what happened? 

How could I go eight years consistently writing and then be so inconsistent the last six years? “Sporadic” is the word that comes to mind when I consider my writing since I’ve retired.

But there is only one word that answers the curiosity of why this has happened, and that word is “discipline”.

You see, when I was working I didn’t have much time at my disposal to write, so I had to discipline myself. I had to fit my writing into small windows of time each week. 

But when time was not constrained, I had no discipline. 

We truly need time to get things done. But the key factor is not time; it is discipline. 

I’ve proved that it doesn’t matter how much time you have. Without discipline the amount of time you have doesn’t matter. 

Maybe it’s not time that’s a curious thing, but rather discipline. 

Discipline trumps time because discipline will get you to accomplish what vast amounts of time never will.

… I’m hoping I can discipline myself to keep writing these posts each week from here on in. 

Here’s the thing: If you are going to have a relationship with God, it will take discipline. You will find a thousand reasons why you don’t have time to read your Bible and another thousand reasons you’re too tight on time to pray. There will be all kinds of scheduling issues that could prevent you from serving the Lord in some capacity. First, place your faith in Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord and then pray for discipline. Kind of curious, isn’t it?

That’s Life,

Paul

Question: What is it that you could apply discipline to in order to use your time more effectively? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Push Past Your Goals For A More Fulfilling Experience

I have noticed that I often push past my goal or target. I don’t think this is just a “me” thing, but most likely something that many people do. 

push past your goals for a more fulfilling experience

No, I don’t have any research to back up my theory, but I figure I’m a pretty average person. I think it’s something built right into us. 

You see it in the Olympics where some athletes will post a personal best in their event. There is something inside them that makes them go past what they have done or can do.

… But that’s an elite athlete and most of us don’t fall into that category. 

Still, when I go mountain biking at my club, there are many times that I feel tired and only plan on doing the home loop which is about 10 km.

However, almost every time, once I’m out there biking, I will push past my goal and add about 15 minutes to my ride by taking a side trail halfway through the home loop.

Even when I’m a little short on time, I usually push past my original goal and add the extra 3 or 4 kilometres to my ride.

I do this in many areas of my life. 

… Like when I feel I’ve been adding too much sugar to my diet, I will take a break from pop and chips and candy. 

I will arbitrarily set a time frame for myself of maybe a couple of weeks. But as I near the end of my sugar fast I will usually determine to push past my target date and go another few days or weeks.

There is something in us that pushes us on to do more, to go beyond. We want to break what we had hoped for and go past it. 

I did that again just the other day. 

I decided to exercise using my stand up paddle board. Usually I just paddle for a while following the coast line and then return to the beach. As I launched my board, I decided to go for at least a half hour. I picked out a landmark down the beach and started paddling. 

The water was really calm for Lake Huron. I could tell I was reaching my target sooner than I expected. So I looked farther down the beach and picked out another target – much more ambitious. 

But as I got to it, I wondered if I could go to an even further target – a pavilion that was farther away than I have ever paddled. 

And as that pavilion got closer, I thought maybe I could make it all the way to the point at the end of the beach.

I pushed past three targets I had set and came to shore only to turn around and paddle back. 

It took me just over an hour round trip and I paddled about 6.5 kilometres. 

I felt a little tired by the time I got back to my beach chair, but pretty good about what I had done.

There was just something in me that caused me to push past my targets.

Here’s the thing: Many times when I get up late or I’m feeling a little rushed in the morning, I’m tempted to skip my time with God. Instead of doing that, I will set a shorter time and keep my appointment with Him. I find that, almost every time, I push past my set time and spend much longer with God. Keep your appointment with the Lord. Set your goal and then see how you push past it to have a rich, fulfilling meeting with Him.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: In what area have you recently gone beyond your initial goal or target? Leave your comment or questions below. 

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