For 50 years I have lived this lie.

With a daily to-do list on the kitchen counter, I have always struggled to find enough time for everything I need or want to do. So I quickly volunteered to write about this particular lie. Maybe, I thought, the writing process will reveal the elusive formula for the balance I’ve sought all these years . . .

So what is “enough”? What is enough time, enough accomplished? And who exactly decides? Raised to believe we can do it “all,” we try to balance all the competing demands on our time. But God says all time is his. Psalm 90:12 says, “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (ESV). This tells me that my days are God-given and finite, and I need him to teach me how to steward them wisely. I belong to him, and time is a resource he gives me for his use. Therefore, any frustration over not having enough time is rooted in the lie that I believe my time is, well, mine. That's the problem: a heart wrapped around my goals, autonomously setting my agenda, not Christ’s. In doing so, I can miss the call of my Master to the sacred work he has for me to do.

A wise friend reminded me that Jesus lived a full and busy life while carrying the needs of the world. Yet he always had enough time because he gauged it by one measure: “I always do what pleases [the Father]” (John 8:29). Jesus knew that fulfilling God’s will was his primary responsibility. It is mine as well.

So what will it look like to order my days, while seeking to fulfill his agenda? Perhaps it means that, as I list the day’s to-dos, I lay them before the Lord—release them to him—asking him to accomplish what he knows needs doing, giving me grace to let go of the rest. It means prioritizing people over productivity and being open to God’s divine interruptions. It means having a Kingdom-minded perspective: whose Kingdom am I building with this activity? God knows where my responsibilities lie and he will enable me to fulfill them as I trust in him. Will I have to change my expectations? Yes. Will I have to let some things go? Absolutely. There will always be tension between what I think I need to do and what God has for me to do. But “without faith it is impossible to please him” (Hebrews 11:6 ESV). Setting each day’s schedule will be an act of faith and belief that my Shepherd is able and willing to craft an agenda that accomplishes his good purposes while I seek to steward well the time and life he’s entrusted to me. At the end of the day, I want to be found faithful.

Will there be enough time to do everything I want to do? Probably not. But by faith I can be certain that there will always be enough time to do what God has purposed for me. In that certainty, my soul can rest.

Libby Thomas

For the Women at Grace Newsletter Team

• Ecclesiastes 3:1–8 tells us, “For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under the sun.” Spend some time reading these verses and consider how every activity has its proper time ordained by God. Invite the Holy Spirit to help you discern and order the events of your life, submitting your time and your plans to his will above your own.
• The gospels reveal a rhythm of Jesus seeking solitude with the Father, retreating to lonely places to pray, even when surrounded by people with pressing needs or demands on his time. Read the story of Jesus’ temptation in Matthew 4:1–11 (paying special attention to verse 2). Notice how Jesus prepares for this incredibly significant task through a long period of fasting. Even Jesus prioritizes being “full” on time with the Father and complete submission to his will ahead of his own work. Reading further, we see that Jesus’ victory against the devil is rooted in Scripture and obedience, the same weapons readily available to believers who are also “full” on the Father.

Jackie Vest

For the Women at Grace Newsletter Team

Existing within the boundaries of time is one of the many ways we’re reminded that there is a God and we are not him. We are created, finite beings, called to steward the time we’ve been given with faithful intention. Use these questions for personal reflection or discussion in your community.

• What level of frustration have you felt over not having enough time? Which items on your agenda typically cause you the most stress, guilt, or pressure? Are those demands typically flowing from your personal to-do list or from Christ’s call on your life?
• Where might you be facing your own “wilderness” of temptation? How does Jesus’ example in Matthew 4:1–11 model what it looks like for you to resist the enemy? How might this influence the way you use your time or order your agenda?
• God is sovereign over every season and “activity under the sun,” as Ecclesiastes 3:1–8 reminds us. Where do you embrace his sovereignty with open hands? Where do you resist it with a closed fist?
• Who or what helps you prioritize your time? Practice surrendering your agenda to the Lord, and share your experience with a trusted believer.

Courtney Vaughn

For the Women at Grace Newsletter Team