Joan made the perfect transition from the ironing demonstration by telling us how she copes with her ironing and her tread mill obligations.
Joan is a retired school teacher, has two grown sons and a few grandchildren. My son Grant says of her that she is the most organized person she knows. If they go on a vacation, she probably has everything planned down to what they should do during their layover at an airport. She also taught sunday school for about 20 years, is notorious for throwing good parties and has the world's best board game collection.
Therefore, we were honored her hear from this friendly person and familiar face what her secrets were to time management and setting priorities.
After she set up a TV-tray for a stand and set a box-like podium on it, she started with the definitions of these terms. We could suddenly imagine ourselves as students in a classroom as soon as she stepped behind the make-shift podium. Priorities were doing things in an order of importance. She distinquished between things that have immediate need, but weren't necessarily important.
Some priorities are born in us - given by God, Joan taught. Desire for food, desire for campanion and sex. She used references from Gen 1:28, 2:24, 3:8 and I Cor 1:9. Clearly, God made the first couple with desires of basic needs and therefore, we have some inborn priorities for these things. Joan shared how Adam and Eve sought God's friendship, even after they sinned in the garden. We also see the fellowship that Jesus established with the disciples and how he spend personal time with them and set aside time to do that because it was a priority.
We also have a natural desire for authority and powe, as displayed in Luke 10:19-20. After all, God gave mankind the authority to rule the earth and gave us the mental capacity to accomplish it.
Joan broke out the general description of priorities into four major categories.
Spiritual Life: We should set aside a time and place for a personal with God, ideally, daily. Not everyone is a morning person, so don't let yourself get hung-up on having to do devotions in the morning. Joan shared her struggle to try to get up early, before her school-day started. But she found the time to be distracted with thoughts of how much had to get done that day. So, she learned that the time between when school was over and before she went home to start the family's evening activities, she had a quiet spot in the day. It was a lull between activities where she could make some time for quiet. She emphasized that if we don't plan for a quiet moment, it won't happen. So, think through your day and settle on a time that will work for you.
Joan also gave the example of how she walks for exercise and that when the Walk-man tape player devices came out, she used that to listen to sermons or the Bible on tape. Today's technology allows this to be even more convenient. She suggested, however, that if you walk and pray, make sure you keep your eyes open.
She wanted to make sure we had a proper understanding of who we were worshipping when we pray and spend this time of devotion to God. She said, "Don't put God on the list of emergency numbers" as if he was someone to call on when a fire was raging. "He's not a 911, He deserves more than that." Yes, he is the almighty and there is nothing he cannot do, so give him the worship he rightly deserves.
Personal Health/Careers: Joan reminded us of six things that will help maintain our health and which in turn will help keep each type of career, home or office, on track. 1) Get proper sleep. This is good advice, especially for a woman who is multi-tasking. Prioritize for yourself that you get enough sleep for your daily activities. It's OK. Leave the dishes and go to bed earlier than usual one night. Give yourself this gift because if you are dragging, it will affect all the people around you. 2) Get regular exercise. If you are healthy and your body is working at its fully potential, you will be more flexible when surprises happen. 3) Eat healthy meals. It's become more popular lately to make home-made meals, but it takes time and planning. Joan shared how her best friend while raising kids was the crock pot. 4) Get outside. Part of being healthy is being in the sunlight. Joan found that it helped to take a break just get away, even for a few minutes, even in the cold winter. 5) Relax. The world won't end if you don't have the dust off your door jams. Joan shared a story told by her mother-in-law. If you have people coming over unexpectedly, clean the four corners of the room and that's what people notice because they are usually positioned in the middle of the room when they visit. That's a real "ah ha" since we have to find some short-cuts when the unexpected happens. 6) Stop whining. Stay away from complaining and other people who complain.
Finances: Some old-time Christians used to think that being "holy" meant that you had to be dirt poor. That's not scriptural. In fact, we know that it's the love of money that is the root of evil, not the money itself. Matt 6:21 is an excellent verse to remember about what our heart tells us about money.
Here's Joan's example of of how to prioritize finances: God's Share: God deserves more than tip money. Many people spend more money on entertainment each week than to God.
Saving: Sacrifice some of your weekly spending and put it away for savings. Even if it is a dollar, it is still saving what you can. This way, when you need some extra money, you will have it. Joan recommended that it is a better idea to use your savings rather than buy things on a credit card. I suppose there may be different opionions on that, but non-the-less, it is good advice at the right moment.
When kids, Joan's parents would required of their family to sacrifice for a certain cause in order to teach their children the meaning of giving. So when it came to be Christmas time, the children received very little and were reminded that they sacrificed these things for others. Unfortunatly, as Joan explained, this was not a savings account and in the end, it turned her brothers away from generously giving to others.
Joan listed her priorities of what to spend money on. A . Pay for just the needs, pay for the basic requirments of living first. This inlcudes your house, your food, and your car. B. If you have money left after the needs, God's share and savings, then you may get the things you "want", but don't really need. Joan's rule-of-thumb is: Do I want it bad enough to have to dust it? C. After these things, and you still have money left, that's the time you may want to consider a frivolous thing, like a gift for your spouse or even yourself.
Family/Home Life Spend enough adequate time with your family. Do things at home and make sure your schedule includes the time to manage your home responsiblities. Don't be afraid to give your children assignments and house chores to do. This teaches them responsibility, how to work within a deadline and be work as a team.
Be willing to learn from others and how they handled the home life stress. Joan tells how she learned from Marjory how it was important to be cheerful and happy when you and your family meet for an evening meal to give each other that extra breathing space before talking about the bad things that happened that day.
Another piece of advice that Joan took was from a church leader, Wayne, who siad that when your children are growing up, look for a family in the church who has children of good behavior and talk to those parents. Look for a family that you respect, get to know them and find out what they did.
The family and home life has to be organzied and all members of the family take part in that to make it happen.
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