Time marches on. Time’s a-wastin’. Time flies when you’re having fun. Does anybody really know what time it is? As the Broadway musical, now movie, Rent reminds us, we have 525,600 minutes to use each year. And, as Paul Tillich once wrote, “Time is our hope. Time is our despair. And time is the mirror by which we see eternity.”

In talking about stewardship, we typically focus on issues of money, resources, and treasure, giving only lip service to the stewardship of talents and time. But the stewardship of time is especially important in today’s harried, fast-paced, high-pressure world. Most time studies focus on how to use time more efficiently, to improve productivity in living. The central question of time stewardship, on the other hand, is how to use our time more holistically — to improve our spiritual balance and health in the spirit of Christian living.

The Greeks had two concepts of time — chronos, which refers to the minutes and days rushing by, and kairos, which is time measured by insight and opportunity. The phrase “the fullness of time” has a kairos feel to it. After 25 years in ministry, filling 60 to 75 hours of time each week with work for the church, the kairos times for me recently were flying far to quickly; the result was burnout and loss of self. Nowadays I work less chronos hours and seek more kairos opportunities, with the result being a return to healthy living. What I do with those hours has changed too, and will change more as I grow in health.

Three ‘awarenesses’ for good time stewardship

As you work toward becoming a good steward of time, three awarenesses will help in your journey.

The most important person in your life beyond God is you. If you don’t take time to take care of yourself — body and soul — you cannot function for the goodness of others or of God. Jesus says that we’re to love our neighbors as ourselves. What he didn’t say was that this is a law of nature more than a spiritual command; we only effectively love our neighbors when we effectively love ourselves, care for ourselves, and build ourselves as God’s children.

There is a difference between the urgent and the important. Urgencies can fill up our days — and usually they are someone else’s urgencies. I don’t mean that we are to be narcissistic about the way we spend our time. But given the pace of living these days, we need to discern the difference between pressures and priorities. In ministry I almost always focused on what other people wanted from me; it was a lousy way to practice ministry. These days I’m trying to focus on what God wants from me.

We are to live as creatures of eternity while still caught in time. If we take our faith seriously, then we are citizens of heaven while living on earth. So many people live as if death is something to avoid. If Christ is truly in our midst, death is no big deal; this time we have on earth is meant to be spent with the heavenly priorities already working in us. If we spend so much time in the earthly pursuits of life, the vital pursuits of heavenly life can get lost.

Habits of good time stewardship

Habits of good time stewardship include God time, play time, savoring time, cherishing time, and growth time.

God time is time spent specifically in worship, prayer, and devotion. How many of us devote as much as a tithe of our time (16.7 hours per week) specifically to the Lord? For all those hours I spent working for the church, my personal devotion time was hit-and-miss. Now, I’m spending time in devotion, both in thanksgiving and in praying for insight.

Play time is taking time for fun in a way that nourishes the soul. Play tennis, read a good book, take a long walk, write, listen to or play music, help people — do the things that feed your soul with enjoyment.

Savoring time also nourishes the soul. Savor your coffee every morning. Drink in the aroma of fresh-baked cookies. Really listen to the music playing on your stereo. Savoring time is what helps to balance life; it also produces more thanksgiving.

Cherishing time is time in relationship. In the last six months I’ve corresponded with old friends more than I did in the previous 10 years, and I’ve made some new friends as well. I visit with my daughters almost every day and cherish the conversations — even when we’re arguing. Remember, relationships are the practice field for loving God.

Growth time is time spent in reading, learning, and relating in such a way that our souls grow. The primary reason we’re using time on this planet is to grow as souls, becoming those “finished tools” the scripture talks about, that heaven might be more fulfilled in us and more fulfilling for us.

So when you “seize the day,” make sure you’re seizing with the right activities. In our accomplishment-oriented world, we can get lost in the living and laboring to preserve what we’ve got or what we desire, rather than letting the God-life happen that puts everything in the proper context.

We all have time. The trick is managing that time in ways that point toward timelessness, becoming mirrors of God’s eternal life and love.

Brite is an ordained Disciples minister currently living in Indianapolis.