Years ago the Lord gave me a strong word.  He said, “Cinnie, I want you to begin thinking in terms of investing your time.  Never *spend* your time, but rather INVEST it. Time is the most precious commodity you have in life. It can never be regained once lost.

“Just as money spent is gone forever whereas money  invested well offers dividends — so it is with time.

“Time spent is lost. Time invested pays dividends. INVEST your time, Cinnie. Never, never spend it.”

This is a particularly strong word for me personally because I have had a terrible lifelong habit of being easily distracted, easily diverted, even with good things. Therefore, it becomes critical for me to be heightened in sensitivity to my days, my minutes, my seconds and to always confront myself with the question:  “Am I investing my time here — or spending it?

For God said to me:

“Cinnie…from this day forward you are going to give account for how you spend every single minute. Write down what you do with your time. Keep track. And invest your time wisely.”

Friend, perhaps this doesn’t apply to you. But if you are like me, you might appreciate a reminder that time, precious time, is the most valuable commodity we have in life. Will we invest the minutes, the hours given to us each day? Or will we spend them, throwing them away on worthless pursuits?

Now before I end here, I want to make it plain that by “worthless” pursuits I don’t think for a minute God frowns on recreation. Far from it. Recreation is necessary to be refreshed. So this isn’t about being legalistic. But what it is about is taking at least as much care to budget our valuable time as we would our finances — recognizing that in our daily “allowance” we are each given exactly 24 hours.

And how we use God’s gift of time matters.

Lord help me to submit to Your discipline, Your structure, Your order in my life so that my time, the gift of time You’ve given me is always invested, not spent, and in such a way that results in great dividends. Thank you Father.

“LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered–how fleeting my life is.”     
~ Psalm 39:4  [NLT] New Living Translation

“Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.”    
~ Psalm 119:37  [ESV]

“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”    
~ Psalm 90:12  [NIV]