"Perhaps you heard about the man who was so clumsy he managed to trip over his cordless phone.
Most of us aren’t that clumsy but we could benefit from switching to all cordless phones. They say you know you’re old if you can remember when TV’s had antennas and telephones had cords. While cordless phones are nothing new to most of us, there are, for whatever reason, still some people who tie themselves to the desk with a chorded phone, especially in the workplace. But chords limit what we can accomplish while on hold or while talking to someone.
A growing number of people have even taken things a step further and gone completely cordless by making their cell phone their home phone and doing away with a land line altogether. Regardless of what phone you use, the main thing is to make sure the telephone conversation is honoring to God or, no matter what kind of phone you use, it will never redeem the time.
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"Several years ago I was speaking at a retreat on the topic, “Redeeming the Time.” As I usually do, I mentioned the importance of family time.
On one of the breaks a young man approached me and said, “You know I really appreciate what you had to say about spending time with family. That’s why I’m on welfare right now instead of getting a job. This way I can spend all day at home with my family. I know God wouldn’t want me to take a job because that would take me away from home.”
This able bodied young sloth had completely misapplied what I had said. He had taken a good Biblical principle and applied it without its balancing truth of providing for the family. Every principle of Scripture and every principle of time management has a balancing truth. When any one truth is overemphasized it gets out of balance and leads to error.
90% of time management is simply learning the right balance. Remember to apply balancing truth if you really want to redeem the time.
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"A middle-aged man began loosing his hair but just couldn’t accept the fact he was going bald. He kept telling his wife he wasn’t bald until there was only one hair left on his head which he meticulously combed and groomed each day. One morning he woke up to find the last hair on his pillow. He looked in the mirror and screamed to his wife, “Look honey I’ve gone bald!”
Sometimes it’s hard to accept the truth, even when everyone else can clearly see it. We like hide behind our little excuses for not accomplishing more for the Lord while denying the fact that we’re really wasting hours each day in television, pointless conversations, or sheer laziness.
What excuses are you hiding behind right now for not doing the thing you know God wants you to do? Don’t be like that man who had to wait for the last hair to fall. Go ahead and pluck out your last excuse now and start redeeming the time!
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"A salesman passed a boy on the sidewalk who was trying to sell his puppy. A sign around the dog’s neck read “For Sale $2,000.” Realizing he had overpriced the animal, the salesman explained he might have to lower his price to make a sale. The boy thanked him for his advice but didn’t change his sign. Next day the salesman passed the boy again and noticed a sold sign where the pup had been. “Looks like you took my advice.” He said. “Oh no” the boy replied, “I just traded him for two $1,000 cats.”
The boy understood the principle of bartering which is a good time management skill. If you have an area of specialization, why not trade your skills for someone else’s time. If you play the piano, offer to teach a young person to play in exchange for some help around your house or mowing your yard. An hour teaching for two hours of yard work would be good trade and would help you redeem the time.
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