"A retired businessman met a fisherman returning from the sea early one morning and asked, “Why don’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?
He replied, “I have enough to support my family. Now I’ll use the rest of the day to play with my children, take a stroll with my wife and visit the village where I tell stories and play guitar with friends.
The businessman scoffed, “You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, eventually
you’ll have a whole fleet of boats which you could sell and make millions”
The fisherman asked, ""But, how long will all this take?""
About 20 years.
Then what will I do with the millions?
You could retire, and move to a small coastal fishing village where you play with your kids,
take a stroll with your wife, or tell stories and play guitar with your friends.""
Remember, take time today for what’s really important. It’s a sure way to redeem the time.
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"Nearly every night many of us go to bed with a gnawing feeling that we have somehow left undone the things we should have done that day. While at the same time we did other things we should have avoided altogether.
Maybe you began your day with a list of 10 “to do” items, two of which were most important, the things you really felt God was telling you to do that day. In the morning you had every intention of doing those items. But, as the day unfolded, you got sidetracked and indulged in trivialities that gave you a sense of immediate accomplishment but did not contribute anything of lasting value. Now you are at the end of your day, and the most important things are still not done.
The way to prevent that is by remembering to focus on the things that matter most, such as reading God's Word, before giving time to trivialities. Remember, there is always time for the thing you do first. When we learn to do first things first we learn to redeem the time.
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"One of the most time saving investments you can make is personal financial software.
If you use it for nothing else, you should at least be using software for your checkbook register. Balancing a paper checkbook can be a big task for some people. If something goes wrong, you can be frustrated for hours trying to find the problem. With electronic checkbook software, a few clicks perfectly reconciles, with no math errors. Your bank can likely download your statement making reconciliation even easier. At tax time, your tax software can automatically recognize and import transactions you need for tax purposes. You can also search for past transaction instantly, instead of hunting through drawers of old statements.
The best part is, basic programs, which are all most of us need, are available for under $30 and can be learned in about an hour. God calls us to be good stewards of time and money. Good financial software allows to do both. And that helps us redeem the time.
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"There’s no egg in eggplant nor is there ham in hamburger; neither is there apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Quicksand works slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
The point is lots of things are not what they appear to be. And understanding that point can save us a lot of time. How often have we joined a club or class or taken on a new sport or hobby only to soon realize it just didn’t do for us what we thought it would do. Our tendency is to stay with those unsatisfying activities instead of finding something better.
Can you think of something you once enjoyed and felt was useful but now you just keep doing it out of habit? As Christians, our time is too valuable to spend mindlessly. Have the courage to pull out of those things which no longer fit where God is leading you and replace them with those that do. You’ll be much happier and you’ll redeem the time.
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