"Moms and dads, are interruptions from the children ever a problem at your house? You know, you’re in the middle of an important phone call when Billy and Suzy burst into the room screaming for you to determine who had the Silly Putty first?
We have 7 children in our house, ages 11 and under, we’ve faced this issue many times and developed some strategies for dealing with it since childish interruptions can waste lots of time.
My favorite technique is the blood and smoke rule. It simply says that when this rule is in effect, the children are not allowed to disturb the parents for anything that does not involve blood or smoke. This gives children an easily understood method of knowing what things they can bring to you while you’re busy with an important project. For example, if someone is having a heart attack, it will just have to wait because there’s no blood and no smoke.
The blood and smoke rule. Generally, a good way to redeem the time.
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"Maybe you heard about the man who was so old his doctor informed him that his blood type would no longer be renewed.
Lots of us get surprises as we get older. One surprise is how quickly we get older. For example, if you’re 45 years old, you might think of yourself as middle aged. But consider the fact that if you live what the Bible refers to as a full life of 70 years, by the time you reach 45 you are well over half way. If you consider your career as taking place between the ages of 20 to 62 by the time you reach 45 you are approaching the 2/3 mark.
Recognizing this fact should make you want to seriously consider seeking God’s best for your life each day. Many people plan to serve God and do great things for God when they get older. But realizing how old you are already might encourage you to get serious today about redeeming the time.
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In the 1970’s a bestseller called “The Jupiter Effect” predicted that when all the planets of the solar system came into alignment in 1982 the earth’s gravity would be so disturbed that between tidal waves and earthquakes Los Angeles would be destroyed. I’ve been to Los Angeles a few times since 1982 and it still looks pretty much in tact to me.
I don’t worry at all about planetary alignments. But I do worry that many Christian’s daily schedules are not in proper alignment with God’s purpose for their lives. When it comes to work for example, the older you are the greater the degree of alignment should be between the work you are doing today and God’s ultimate purpose for your life. If you are over 40 and still waiting to get “on track” you need to stop and spend some time getting clear on what God wants you to do.
Getting the proper alignment between our schedules and God’s calling is essential if we’re to redeem the time.
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"Did you hear about the man who bought a radio but thought he could only listen to it until noon each day. When a friend asked why he explained, “It says right here it’s an AM radio.
When it comes to redeeming the time, a lot of people impose imaginary limits on themselves. Henry Ford said, “Every man living can do more than he thinks he can.” Workplace studies show that the average worker is productive for only 54 percent of the day. That means that the average worker could nearly double his output through better planning, analyzing, and prioritizing of his work along with diligent work habits that get to the heart the task at hand.
In Colossians 3:23 God tells us to do whatever we do heartily as unto the Lord and not unto men. God’s desire for us is that we become outstanding witnesses in the workplace. While others see how little they can do and still keep their job, the Christian blesses his employer by redeeming the time.
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