by Francis Pavlas
Managing our time always helps us in our success. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, “I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work” (John 9:4). God had given us 24 hours a day, 12 hours for the day and 12 hours for the night. So we have to plan our time wisely in order to fulfill our responsibilities.
In Ecclesiastes chapter 3, verses 1 to 8 say: “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted; A time to kill, And a time to heal; A time to break down, And a time to build up; A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing; A time to gain, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to throw away; A time to tear, And a time to sew; A time to keep silence, And a time to speak; A time to love, And a time to hate; A time of war, And a time of peace.” From these verses, we see God had set time and seasons for every purpose.
God had given us 24 hours in a day, so we have to budget our time in order to carry out our duties orderly. Sometimes we are late in doing things, for example the students who attend colleges, some of them are late for their lectures or classes and miss their lessons. Even those who are working are late for their work. However to overcome the problem, the government and the private sectors have introduced log-book and punch-card systems in order to help their employees to be punctual in their duties. Whatever the system introduced, still there are some workers being late.
Generally, we have seen people who are very punctual, those who are travelling on buses, trains and aeroplanes have to be at least half an hour early before their departure time. They know if they are late, they will miss their journey. So the travellers must budget their time well in order to be punctual.
There are people who say they have not enough time for this and for that. However, if they can sit down and budget their time properly, surely they will find enough time to do things.
Today, some of the young people will say they do not have the time to find the right partners to get married and settle down. It is not a big problem if they really budget their time properly, they can be assured of finding the right partner.
Even when we do budget our time decently and orderly, there will still be inevitable and unforeseen situations happening, like our car may not start due to a flat battery, the traffic jam, sickness, accidents and so forth. And these may make us late for our appointments.
Whatever the circumstances, the time management is very important. Jesus told us about the faithful stewardship of God-given talents. So let us use our God-given talents wisely to budget our time in order to be punctual.
