How Did You Spend the Last 90 Seconds? Why Little Bits of Time Matter
"Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil."
Eph 5:15–16.
Two Hours Per Day
Two hours every day = one month of your year.
What's something you spend at least two hours per day doing? Depending on your answer, this is either an encouraging or disappointing fact.
Cumulative Time
Oftentimes it is hard for us to think in multiples.
If I asked you what 45 + 18 is, you'd be able to figure it out pretty easily. But if I asked you what 45 x 18 is, that would take more thought. We often measure our productivity from day to day but not year to year.
A little bit of time here and there can add up to massive amounts when measured at scale. For example, Netflix shared that on the average day, their "Skip Intro" button is pressed 136 million times, saving their viewers a cumulative 195 years worth of time–every day.
We should think about our time in the same way–in multiples. 15 minutes on social media every day will add up to almost four days worth of time over the course of a year. On the flip side, spending 15 minutes reading a book will have the same result.
Numbering Our Days
"So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom."
Ps. 90:12
Being careful to number our days and count our time is not something that comes naturally to us. As the Psalmist implies, it is something that we must be taught by God. And as a result, we gain a heart of wisdom.
We can sometimes forget just how valuable our time is. If you live in a way that acknowledges this is the day the Lord has made, and that your days on earth are numbered, you will be much more inclined to act with wisdom.
You will begin to see each day as an opportunity to redeem rather than another day to get through.
Be Diligent About Your Time
Most of us have small intervals of time in our days that we could redeem.
The Puritan Charles Bridges remarks on small bits of time in The Christian Ministry, saying that goldsmiths are careful to save whatever they sweep up from their shop floors, "because they may contain in them some filings or dust of those richer metals, gold and silver; I see not, why a Christian may not be as careful, to not lose the fragments or lesser intervals of a thing incomparably more precious than any metal—time." (Bridges, 1830, p. 44)
These lesser intervals could be when:
- You're waiting for someone/something
- You have a little time before two scheduled tasks
- You're doing a repetitive and non-cognitive task
A few things to do during these times:
- Say a quick prayer
- Recite Scripture you have memorized
- Read Scripture on your phone
- Read an ebook
- Write something
- Listen to an audiobook
https://about.netflix.com/en/news/looking-back-on-the-origin-of-skip-intro-five-years-later
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