Where Does The Time (Energy) Go?

Dear Friends,

If you were with us on Sunday (and many of you were – it was the 3rd most attended worship service since Mother’s Day) – or online, with well over 500 views already, you heard the message that we are formed by the practices and habits that we engage in.  And you also heard the invitation to do a little self-reflection – an audit so to speak – of how you spend your time throughout the day and week.

If you already did this, good on you!  If not, I want to continue to encourage you.  Take ten minutes, sit down with a scrap of paper and pen, maybe a journal if you do that, and your calendar – and just take note of the “big rocks” in your life.  Where do you spend the most time?  What activities are you most engaged in?  Once you get beyond sleeping, working, eating and commuting, you’re probably not left with a ton of time, so it can actually be pretty easy.

Then, when you do have “free time” – what are the things you’re doing most often?  These may be in your calendar, but they might not.  It may be that they’re hidden in your phone settings under “screen time” – or they could be the thing that you’re carrying around with you in your mind – dreaming of a future event, or a past celebration or a present relationship.  It’s probably hard to measure the time you spend there, but you can at least take note of the energy (positive or negative) that you give to those things or people.

Your list might look something like this:

Weekly Time Audit (168 total hours):

This list is just an example – everyone’s will be different.  The goal is to put it down, not so others can see it, but so we can come face to face with it ourselves.  And recognizing that the things we spend our time and energy on, the habits and practices that we participate in… are forming us.

After looking at your “audit” the second question is… Do you like what you’re being formed into?

Countless times over the course of my life, I have come face-to-face with this question and answered… “no.” Which leads naturally to: Will I do anything about it? 

Sometimes, that too, has been “no.”  I recognize I spend hours and hours watching a sports team, listening to commentary about them, reading articles, binging bags of chips the whole time and feel miserable afterwards… only to plop myself down next week and hit “repeat.”  Or I walk by the mirror, step on the scale, bypass that section of my closet with clothes that used to fit… but land back on the couch to binge the latest series instead of going out for a walk.  Or I find my blood boiling, flying off the handle while I’m behind the wheel, or talking with my family, or on social media… but instead of centering myself in silence and prayer each morning, I scroll my news feed, or fill silent moments with podcasts and posts that I know are designed to get me riled up.

Sometimes, I’ve felt like Paul, writing to the Galatians, where he tries to wake them up to their misguided ideas that following the law and getting circumcised was somehow the ultimate goal in a life-lived for Jesus.  I’ve presented myself with the truth of what I’m doing with my time and energy, and even though I don’t like it… I’ve turned away, “ignored” it, and only grown frustrated and bitter, further entrenched, and further from God’s desire for my formation in Jesus.

And other times… I’ve made other decisions.  I’ve made little adjustments to my habits, removed something, added something else in its place, consciously responded to what I’ve presented myself with and eventually… noticed a difference.

And that’s the goal, right?  The goal is that we participate in our formation, our transformation into Christ, but it often starts with coming face to face, not with what we want to be, but with who we are, right now.  And we either accept it, admit it, or cover it up, ignore it, and continue on in the direction we’re headed.

Friends, my hope for you, my hope for me, is that we would grow in Jesus together.  That’s our mission, that’s our purpose, it’s the vision for our community together.  It’s not easy, but it is good work and the fruit of it… well, we’ll get to that.

Welcoming You to Grow in Jesus, one honest look and one courageous step at a time,

Pastor Don