Recently I went to church and the pastor spoke on the topic of stewardship.  It took me a few moments to find a pen so I am not sure I have his words exactly correct, but what I jotted down was "Have you received and not rendered?  Have you been blessed and not sought to bless?"  Those questions resonated with me and got me thinking.

The sermon was not just about tithing, although that was part of it.  The pastor also spoke of putting our time and talents to God's use.  It got me thinking:  "This is the day the Lord hath made," and what am I doing with it?  Am I being a faithful manager of the resources God has given me?

At that moment, I was in church so I was making good use of at least that part of my day.  But as I thought back on the rest of my week and looked forward to my plans, I knew I didn't do as well most of the time.  I wasn't putting the time God had given me to the best use.

I can waste time like nobody's business.  Hours can go by and I have done little more than make a cup of tea, feed the cats, and stare idly out the window.  (Never mind my irrational need for a nap everyday!)  I can also spend a lot of time just worrying about things, wondering how this will play out or if such and such will happen.  The pastor's sermon made me realize that my time usage was as bad as my diet: full of sweets and junk food, crammed with stuff that won't last and won't sustain anyone, least of all me.  I realized that my actions (or lack thereof) also showed how cheaply I valued the resource of time that God had given me.

I am grateful for that day's sermon because it served as a much-needed reminder to be a better steward of my time.  Ever since that day I have tried to let God set my schedule.  When He calls me to account for what I have done with the time allotted to me, I don’t want Him to catch me napping.  Or at least if I do happen to be napping, I hope to be able to list all the useful things I had accomplished before the snooze as well all the things I had planned for after.