By Judge Mark Russo

Time Management is crucial in our everyday life. Family, work, and friends all demand our time. How many of you have been so busy that you prayed for a 25th hour in the day? How many of you want a stronger relationship with God, but you just can’t find the time? You are just too busy at this moment, maybe later.

Let’s just say the average person lives 78 years. (I know this number can differ, but let’s keep it simple.) This means typically we all hopefully have 40,996,800 minutes to use as a gift. How are you BEST using your minutes? I was once listening to a sermon about how the two most important days on a tombstone are the day you were born and the day you die. However, the hyphen on the tombstone is the most important because it tells us how long we lived.

It hit me to the core of my soul, it caused me to ask how do we use our time?

It takes 3 seconds to say, “I love you.” 5 seconds to say “May I pray for you?” or “What can I do for you, today?”. Some of us are afraid to share with others a good word, because it may delay us.

James 4:13-15 reminds us: “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’”

The scary truth is we ALL waste our PRECIOUS time for no actual good reason. Later, we try to justify that we didn’t, thus wasting more time. All time is important, as on the Seventh day God rested but…He didn’t stop.

How can we do better in our walk of faith and do it more efficiently? The fast answer is ABP… Always Be Praying for others. If you are always doing it, then your bases are covered.

However, that isn’t realistic for most. So what can we do?

1. Start slow.

2. Ask God what you should be doing every morning, and then thank God for the blessings of the day at night.

3. Take at least a moment at lunch to pray for others.

Exercise your faith just like you do your body. Repetitions matter. It is important to take a holistic approach everyday - mind, body and soul.

Share with others because when you are tired others can do the “prayer lifting”.

And of course, it is imperative that we Pray, Vote, and Engage.

How are you going to use your minutes?

**Judge Mark Russo serves as the Justice of the Peace in Rockwall County Texas

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