It is amazing what can be accomplished when you are extremely pressed for time. Take for instance this morning. I have my alarm clock set for 5:25am. I also have my cell phone set for 5:45. This one reminds me to say my prayers, but it’s also a backup in case my 5:25 one doesn’t go off, or I forget the night before to set it. I don’t really need the 5:45 one anymore to remember my prayers, and have thought several times about deleting it, but I decided I better keep it, just for the backup anyway.
When my alarm clock goes off at 5:25, I usually turn it off, ponder on what my day holds, check the weather, reset the alarm for the next morning and then get up and start my day, usually about 5:28 in the morning. I go down, make sure the boys are awake, go back upstairs and get dressed, teeth and hair brushed and then go back downstairs. We have time to warm up hot chocolate, say prayers, check out what’s going on in the world online, things like that. Then we start the car to let it warm up some, gather up backpacks and cold weather gear if it super cold and get out the door by 6:00.
This morning, the first time that I can ever remember it happening, my alarm clock didn’t wake me up, my prayer alarm on my cell phone did. I was slightly disoriented because it was the wrong alarm and I had to check two other clocks to see if I was actually reading my phone time correctly because my old phone used to mess up regularly. 5:45am and we needed to be out the door at 6:00! Had it not been my day to teach I could have fudged the leave time by 5 minutes or so, but not so today.
I raced downstairs and woke up the boys telling them what time it was. They immediately felt the alarm in my voice and realized what the implications of what was saying we’re. They are great young men and jumped out of bed and got busy rushing through their morning routines. I did the same. It’s amazing how much less time it takes to pick out clothes when you don’t have time, anything will work! No hot chocolate to slowly drink as we made our way through getting ready, just a glass of milk while making sure all the correct books were actually packed in the backpacks, grabbing keys, no time to start the car and let it warm up, and out the door only 2 minutes late.
What a crazy morning! Seminary went smoothly and everyone made it to school safely and I made it home after dropping kids off. I remember reading a quote one time, and I have searched for it and can’t find it, so I can’t give you the exact quote, just my interpretation of it. It said something like, “When you only have a short time left on this planet you only do those things that are the most important. Nothing else really matters.” That’s not exact, but you get the gist of it. This morning I was pondering on that as I was hurriedly getting done only those things most essential to me walking out the door. How much of my time do I spend doing things that have little or no consequence in life? Probably more than I would care to admit. That’s not to say that we don’t need down time, and sometimes that is the most essential part of my day. But I spend an awful lot of time doing things that don’t matter, like getting on social media when I should be cleaning my house or cleaning my house because that’s better than trying to fix my website, or whatever the case may be.
I have a list of priorities in my life, but a lot of those priorities don’t always take a lot of my time during the day, at least as far as the big priorities. I have found though, that when I start listing off some of the smaller priorities, I tend to not give my all or my best. I waste time on mundane tasks, or even just waste time on the internet when I should be painting, working on my business, or spending that little bit of extra time with my kids or my husband. This morning I realized that I need to focus better on what is really important and stop letting the unimportant, distracting parts of life distract me so much. So today, and the next several I will be focused on focus, on paying attention to where my time goes, and how much of it goes where. I am the only one that can change the course of my own ship, so if I don’t like the direction I am going, it is up to me to change course and do better. I am grateful that I have that opportunity and ability to do so. What did you spend your time on today? Was it wisely used?
Stephanie Richey Art 
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