"Do your children ever waste time? Of course they do! Children by nature are not given to thoughtfully investing time in the things that matter most. For them play, fun and games take priority over long term goals and character development.
It is up to you and I as parents to train our children to properly value and use time. That’s why a wise parent will give their children more tools than toys. A 10 year old boy can get just as excited about a new tool box, filled with hammers and nails, as he can with the latest electronic game, if his appetite for it is cultivated.
So start when they are young by giving them plastic hammers, toy sewing machines, and children’s kitchen or workshop sets. Children benefit much more form imitating their parents at work, than they do from toys which are simply designed to pacify them and keep them quiet.
Remember, giving tools instead of toys is good parenting because it trains your children to redeem the time.
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"Will Rogers said, “We will spend half our life trying to find something to do with the time we rushed through life trying to save.”
Will was right. In today’s culture, the highest goal many people work for is to have a good retirement. And while planning for retirement is a smart thing to do, for the Christian it is not to be the main focus and goal we are working toward. Rather we should be thinking longer term than even retirement and using our time each day to prepare for the stage of life which comes after retirement, that is, our eternal destiny.
What good is it to retire early with lots of money and lots of time on your hands and have no sense of purpose or usefulness to your life? Merely traveling and seeking pleasure grows tiresome after a while. Boredom, disappointment and depression are major problems for those who work all their life just to retire.
It’s only when our focus is on things eternal that we truly redeem the time.
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"What is the key to overcoming procrastination? It is really quite simple.
When God speaks to the procrastinator, He doesn’t want to completely say no to God he just doesn’t want to say yes right now. So the procrastinator creates a third option which is “yes, but”. But the problem with that is there is no such thing as “yes but” with God. Because delayed obedience is really disobedience.
The key to eliminating procrastination is to eliminate the third option from our thinking. The way we do that is by asking this question when we are tempted to procrastinate, “Will I obey God right now, Yes or No?” By framing the situation with this question we force ourselves to choose one of the only two options that actually exist.
Remember, by applying the question, “Will I obey God right now, Yes or No?” and simply answering yes, we can overcome procrastination and redeem the time.
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"Who will be crying at your funeral? That’s a question that author
Patrick Morley, began asking himself.
Morley and his wife were successful in their business. Their
schedules were filled with business and civic responsibilities.
Meanwhile they had young children at home who needed their attention.
One evening, as they reviewed their time consuming responsibilities,
the thought came, ""Why not prioritize everything we do on the basis of
who will be crying at our funeral?"" And that's exactly what they did.
The results, they claim, saved their family.
Why should you and I invest all our time with people who don't love us, at the expense of those who do?""
Powerful thought. It is a question of priorities. It is a question
of putting first things first. It is a question of redeeming the
time
"