Setting a budget for your span of days

A University of Georgia research project looked at the health and lifestyles of Georgians over the age of 100. The composite of the data revealed the typical Georgia centenarian to be a female who is feisty and wants to have her way and is generally satisfied with life.

The study also found that those in this rare age group have much that distinguish them from one another, yet one unifying factor is that they “rely more on spirituality and a deep trust in God and less on non-religious methods than the other groups do.” Perhaps this isn’t surprising given that faith was more culturally dominant when the centenarians were growing up and starting a family.

Additionally, faith has been shown by scientific study after study to be an indicator of good health, quick recovery from illness and a longer lifespan. So faith might have had something to do with those elderly Georgians living so long. Or to look at it differently, it may have to do with how they spent their time.

The lifespan of an average person in the US is predicted by some to be 77 years. That is 2555 days or 40.4 million minutes to spend. Much of the time will be spent before you know it. After all, with eight hours a night for sleep, you’ll spend more than 25 years snoozing, before you even count afternoon naps.

Then there are the routine tasks which demand our time. The average person spends 2 years of his or her life on the telephone, 3 years in the bathroom, 3 years getting dressed, and 11 years watching TV.

Yet, in a lifetime, the average Christian spends less than 6 months with God. 76.5 years on me, with just half a year spent on the loving creator of all that is. This may be where those 100+ year old Georgians start to really gain on us, and not just because of their longevity. Older Georgians can pass a 42-year old like me as if I’m standing still when it comes to time with God simply by being aware of God in everything they do.

That really is the secret. You can only carve out so much time for church services, Bible reading and prayer time (and all of these should be priorities for some of that time you spend each day). However, you can bring God into every moment of the day with an awareness that God is there.

God will be there during your 3 years of getting dressed or the years you spend driving to work. God will be there in the 11 years you watch TV, but it will be easier to notice God’s presence if you opt to turn off the TV every once in a while too.

Budgeting your time is not really different from budgeting your money and it is every bit as important. If you don’t budget time for the things that matter to you, the time you have to spend will be gone before you ever get around to your priorities. As you only have so much time to spend, an important part of deciding what you would like to do, is deciding what you need to stop.

Business guru Jim Collins has written of this in describing an encounter very influential to him. In a USA Today article Collins said he learned the importance of occasionally asking yourself, What things, even good things, do I need to stop doing, in order to make room in my life for the things that will make the biggest difference over the long haul?

Spending time with your children and your spouse is one great way to make a difference over the long haul. And if we are to believe the scientific studies on faith and health and the UGA study of centenarians, then making room in your life for God will also reap huge benefits over the span of your life—and that’s before you take the afterlife into account.

But I didn’t write this week to tell anyone how to spend his or her time. I’ve got my own life to budget. Instead, I just wanted to gently remind you that maybe it’s time to reflect once more.

What matters to you? What ways of spending your time and energy will most matter over the long haul? What do you want to do more of? What do you need to stop doing?

(The Rev. Frank Logue is pastor of King of Peace Episcopal Church in Kingsland.)

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