Tuesday, September 30, 2014

The Yes Worth the Less

I'm looking forward to a three-day trip with the girls next week, but in order to get the one extra day off, I need to work one extra day this week. No Big Deal.

But when I fill up a day...and then a week...and then several weeks in a row with "no-big-deals," I get tired and my mind does strange things. Lately this has been happening, and I regret the disorder that led to my anxiety. So (yet again) I've been looking for ways to keep my schedule manageable.

I read these two quotes about time recently. They expressed my thoughts much better than I could.

"Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't keep it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it you can never get it back." ~Harvey MacKay
"Whenever you say yes to something, there is less of you for something else. Make sure your yes is worth the less." ~Louis Giglio

The first quote made me think of someone offering to pay for your meal. Who of us would order the extras we don't when it's our own money we're spending? None. Our mothers teach us to be extra careful when a kindness like that is offered. Neither does your time belong to you--God gives you today! You want to make every moment count.

The second quote made me think of a story about a woman named Gladys Aylward who rescued children in China around the time of the Japanese invasion. One of her girls brought home a tiny orphan boy name Les. The little girl said, "I know we don't have much, but I thought if we all ate a little less, there would be something for Les." And so they did and Little Les became part of the family. He was worth it!

I certainly do fill my time with trifles, and just as certainly my time can certainly go further than I've made it. With so many people around me and so much bigger than me, the time I can wisely invest outside of myself will not be poorly spent.

...And by the way, a three-day get-away with the girls is certainly a yes worth the less!

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