I have been thinking recently about how I use my time.

 I feel like I need to maximize the time I have and not waste it. So one of the things I have been wondering about is how I can perhaps combine two activities and perhaps “kill two birds with one stones” as they say. I have been thinking about this especially in terms of my relationship with God and the time I spend with Him.

I can easily make the excuse that I don’t have enough time to spend more time in things, like praise, prayer and interacting with God’s work. The truth is I can probably find the time if I think smarter.

Here are my initials thoughts on how to do this

I see people talking all the time in cars, talking to people on phones (some sadly not with hand free sets ) I tend to just drive, so I am going to experiment with talking to God when I am driving. I’ll make driving time praying time. It will make a difference from people praying while I am driving.

You probably know that I am at best “singing impaired.” Yet I love to sing, especially God’s praises, it blesses me, it just doesn’t bless other people. I used to sing when riding my motorbike, the booming note of an Italian V twin engine and the padding of my crash helmet meant that only God and I had to listen. Due to the sad current absence of an Italian motorbike in my life I have decided to sing in the bath. I just won’t sing too loud in case I frighten Ann and Ava.

Mid morning instead of having coffee I generally take Ava for a walk in the woods. I have realised that with its quietness and beauty it makes for an ideal time and place to pray. I have decided that mid morning walks are now going to be a time of intercessory prayer. As well as praying for people and situations particularly on my heart I am going to imagine myself at our worship gathering on a Sunday, preCOVID and imagine the people I would meet. As people pop into my head, I’ll bring them to the Lord in prayer.

I am a recovering news addict. I am doing better but I still need at least one news “fix” a day. Things in the world seem so chaotic and challenging at the moment , with political upheaval, religious violence, COVID, war and a threatening economic catastrophe. This means I watch the news at the moment with a mixture of despair and anger. It suddenly struck me that rather than simply shouting at the TV; I could talk silently to God about these situations. The news could be another time of intercession rather than an experience of frustration and apprehension.

I travel on the train up and down to Nyon a couple of times a week. The 15 minutes that the journey takes usually means for me, staring out the window or mindlessly surfing the web. Today I have downloaded an audio bible and so now each return journey from Givrins to Nyon can be 30 mins of quality time listening to God’s Word. That’s a couple of extra hours a week listening to God’s Word. I call that a result.

Maybe like me you would like to spend more time on your relationship with God but think you don’t have the time. Why not steal some of my ideas or think about how you could combine some of your activities with praise, or worship, listening to God’s word or interceding for others in prayer? If all of us could just find a couple of extra hours a week I am convinced it would make a big difference to our own spiritual health and that of us as a community. Let’s find out.