Making Each Day Count

Are you good at setting goals? How about reaching them? I am usually a very goal-oriented person, so I tend to stay on track in this area. But in the past year, I found myself looking at the piles of things I needed and wanted to do, becoming so double-minded about what to do first that I often ended up getting little or nothing done at all!

I’d start my day with a plan and then get to the end of it feeling frustrated and even a bit angry with myself. It was so frustrating! I felt like life was ordering me around rather than me ordering my life, and I knew something was wrong.

As I prayed about it, God began showing me the importance of living life on purpose. I started listening to people around me, and learned that a large percentage of us live day in and day out without accomplishing much of what we truly intend to. We’re busy, just not with the right stuff.

How about you? Are you steadily becoming the person you want to be? Are you accomplishing the things you want to accomplish in life? Are you an “on-purpose” person, or are you mostly waiting to see where life takes you?

Live on Purpose

Ephesians 5:15-17 pretty much says it all, and it is one of my favorite passages of Scripture:

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

This passage teaches us to:

• Be careful about our time and choices.
• Be an “on-purpose” person. 
• Live a life worth living.
• Really think about what we are choosing to do and make wise decisions. 
• Make the most of our time.
• Don’t let opportunities pass us by.
• Don’t be passive, vague, thoughtless and foolish.
• Know the will of God and grasp it firmly.

To be “on-purpose” Christians, we must train ourselves to go through a thinking process each day so that we can channel our time into things that will bear good fruit. Each day God gives us is a present, and that’s why it is called the “present.” We need to unwrap that gift carefully, cherish it, and invest into it something we will be proud of later in life.

Start Your Day Right

The only way to get your day started right is to start with God. I try to always start my day talking with God—asking for His help and guidance in all I do, submitting the day to Him, and spending time in His Word.

David said in Psalm 5:3, In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice; In the morning I will prepare [a prayer and a sacrifice] for You and watch and wait [for You to speak to my heart].

When we go to God first, before rushing into the “doing” part of our day, it is like saying, Apart from You I can do nothing (see John 15:5).

Plan Your Time

Take some time to plan your day. Look at the week, the month and the year ahead, and consider what you’d like to accomplish, where you need to be and what you have to do to get there.

It’s so important to really know where your times goes. Not every moment of our lives has to fit into a plan, but we will enjoy our lives more if we know that our time is spent on things with purpose and meaning.

The truth is, “life” doesn’t just turn out to be one way or another without any input from us. God has made His Word available to help us make choices that will produce a life we can be proud of and enjoy. So get out there and enjoy it!