About time

I have been writing this post in my head since Sunday and am finally getting to it. We had a great lesson taught from an article in The Church News titled 'About time'. I wanted to scan a copy (scanner not cooperating) of it here so I could link it because we don't have a subscription, dang it! We used to but stopped when I always kept forgetting to renew. Again, dang! Back to topic Mel.... The teacher is great, he has taught many years of seminary and he knows how to teach. I wish he did it every week, I would get so much more out of it! I digress (again). He had us break up into groups (a total seminary thing to do) of 3 so we could read and review this one page article.

Here are some quotes from the article

"The wise use of time--the wise use of choices--is a vital issue."

Vital is such a strong word. We have vital organs that keep us alive and time falls into the same category. Interesting.

"We cannot call back time that is past we cannot stop time that now is, and we cannot experience the future in our present state. Time is a gift, a treasure not to be put aside for the future but to be used wisely in the present." Thomas S. Monson

"Yet who among us can say that he has not 24 hours in each day?"
Each of us has the same chance every day to make a difference with how our time is spent. I have never looked at it this way.
"If there is one lesson to be taught by a clock or calendar, it is that time, not money, is the true currency of life."
This is one of the best ones! Time is how we get ahead, not money. So with our time, we can earn rewards from being organized and efficient. I love thinking that if I spend my 'time money' on scripture study or prayer or visiting teaching, I will be 'paid' with a stronger testimony of the word of God or better communication with the Lord or the love of serving others. So on and so on. How cool is that?
"The experiences we choose will be the occupants of this most precious, nonrenewable resource."

"How unwise we are to waste our todays when they determine our tomorrows. We should wisely live a day at a time because that is all we have." Marvin J. Ashton
This is hard to remember when we are living our todays. I have felt the effects of being wasteful of time when it has become tomorrow. I know most of us have. A life lesson that doesn't go away, don't you think?
"It isn't easy."
I loved this quote, it was all alone in a paragraph. We know this isn't easy because we have to

"With the incessant flow of time comes and inexorable flow of choices. If we are to harness time to achieve our goals, we must be as single minded as it is. Regardless of how many hard choices we have to make in order to do so."
This last statement really has stuck with me. We will make many hard choices to meet our goals. Many of them dealing with how we spent our time. Yikes!

Every group would highlight what hit them the most. I could not decide on a favorite quote, I really loved them all. Thomas Monson's quote sums it all up for me. I love the first sentence. I am not a great manager of my time to most of this hit home for me. So far I have let this be an eternally revolving goal for me because things haven't really changed. Every year I tell myself I will be different with my time. I have set goals in other areas and been successful but here, I always fall short. Do you have this problem? Do you think it is personality related or can I fully overcome it? ( I know I can, sometimes it just seems insurmountable)

I wrote this post not to condemn myself or others about the abuse of time. I mean, hello, I love to blog therefore I have wasted time in front of my computer. I have learned to balance (for the most part) time spent here and I am ok with it. I wanted some of this article here for me to look back on, to help me reach my goal this year. It is at the top of the list.

*I think one of the reasons I have this on my mind is that we start 830 church in the morning!! That's right, I said 830, don't you think it should be illegal? (Except you Jane, I bet you love it!) I am having such a hard time with it, it will be the only day of the week I have to set an alarm clock. I hate alarm clocks. I get Kat ready for school during the week at this time but not the boys and I at the same time. How on earth am I going to get all 4 of us ready while Milo is still at work? I am just short of freaking out over it. I'll let you know how it goes since we'll have the rest of the day to do who knows what. First on the list though will be a NAP!!