I just want time to do my one life well.

Ok! If you've been following my blog- you know that I started reading "ONE THOUSAND GIFTS" during the Christmas break.  Well I'm only to chapter 4!  It takes a while to digest the thoughts on these pages.  And chapter 4 is right where I need to be today!

It starts with a J.R.R.Tolkien quote:
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.

Hmmm!  What do I do with my time?

I remember the words of a song
Five hundred, twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes
Five hundred, twenty-five thousand moments so dear
Five hundred, twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?

Wow! 525,600 minutes!  Now if I had that in dollars, I would think that was a very good thing.  Yet when I think of it in time, that does not seem very long!

Especially when I sleep 8-10 hours.
Eat.
Talk on the phone to my girls or family.
Read.
Write.
Study.
Coach.
Answer emails.
Check facebook & website.
Talk on the phone.
Watch TV.
Plan.
visit friends.
go to church
work my budget
...you get the idea!
(hmmm!  I noticed that I didn't say clean or exercise.  That's sad! I'm trying to do both with more intentionality girls! I promise!)

But am I really using my time in a way that brings richness to my life.  Am I making choices that give fullness.  "Time is life.  And if I want the fullest life, I need to find the fullest time." ~Ann Voskamp

When I look back at 2011, I am really amazed!  I began the year by launching my new practice as a life & relationship coach called Green HOPE Coaching!   I knew it's what I wanted to do!  I knew the timing was right for me!  I knew God was directing my steps!

But I felt, at times during the year, that I wasn't 'getting anywhere'!  I wasn't moving fast enough! Yet as I got to the end of the year, I felt good; that I had made progress and accomplished things I wanted to accomplish.

Do I have any regrets?  Yes, I think I do!  In chapter 4, Ann V. asks the question, "What's the most profound regret in life.

Being in a hurry. Getting to the next thing without fully entering the thing in front of me.  I cannot think of a single advantage I've ever gained from being in a hurry.  But a thousand broken and missed things, tens of thousands, lie in the wake of all the rushing...Through all that haste, I thought I was making up time.  It turns out I was throwing it away.

Hmmm! What am I throwing away?  Where do I choose fullness of life?  So some of those 525, 600 minutes are already past for 2012- and I have had a slow start!  What am I going to do with the rest of my time?

What are you choosing?