Never Enough Time

Day Twenty-five

My day was going to be busy today and time would be a factor.  I try not to worry too much about time limits, but there are days when I feel like I never have enough time to do everything that needs to get done.  I needed a good attitude about how I would spend my time today, so I prayed for the wisdom to use my time wisely and the comfort of knowing that it would all work out in the end.

The scriptures would prove to be a great source of information about time and help me put things in perspective.  I am in Sections 129-131.  I would find my interest peaked in a verse in Section 130 which deals with time.

130:4 - "In answer to the question—Is not the reckoning of God’s ^atime, angel’s time, prophet’s time, and man’s time, according to the planet on which they reside?"  

I would like to share a few things I learned about time:

God's time
2 Peter 3:8 - "...that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day"

Rev 12:12 - "...for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time."

This is interesting to me that in 2 Peter a day is 1,000 years which seems like a lot of time in man's time, but to Satan this seems but a short time.  It seems there is a lesson on perspective here.

Man's time
Man has decided that one day should equal 24 hours.  I followed a footnote which led me to interesting words regarding man's time in Alma 40:8: 

"Now whether there is more than one time appointed for men to rise it mattereth not; for all do not die at once, and this mattereth not; all is as one day with God, and time only is measured unto men."

This made me think, maybe it's not the amount of time, but how you use it that really counts.  So how am I supposed to use my time?  Here are just a few things I found:

D&C 26:1 "...let your time be devoted to the studying of the scriptures, and to preaching..."

D&C 60:13 "Thou shalt not idle away thy time, neither shalt thou bury thy talent that it may not be known."

D&C 93  Tells us we should spend time with our families, praying (v 49), teaching (v 40), putting our house in order (v 43), keeping the commandments (v 44, 47), and repenting and sacrificing (v 48). 

And this is just a short list! How would I find time to do all the things required of me?

The last scripture I read really summed up what I had learned from this study session: 

Ecclesiastes 8:5  Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart discerneth both time and judgment.

Discerning time.  What is the wise way to discern time?
My aha moment:  The way to judge my use of time should be based on how much effort I spend on the Lord's work each day.  Am I focusing on the things of of the world more than I am working on getting back to my Father in Heaven?  Which is the wiser use of time?

I have a new perspective on my use of time and how to prioritize better.  The things of the Lord should come first and the rest will follow.  If I do this, then there will always be the right amount of time! It seems so simple, why did it take me so long to figure it out?