Reflect to Deflect
I will never forget taking a train ride through the Swiss Apps and seeing a quaint village in a valley surrounded by snow-capped mountains and the sun glistening down on the green meadow. This was truly inspiring and we can all be inspired by the beauty of this world, by God’s power, His promises and His limitlessness.
Make it your purpose in life to help others see Christ. Each book you read; each movie or show you see; each conversation you have; each song you hear can have a lesson that God wants you to learn and in turn share with others.
In Golf, you want a club that gives you maximum power and is forgiving. In life, the tools you want are the principles found in the word of God. They also give you maximum power and are forgiving. Champions in life face up to their toughest competition – themselves. They conquer things that may hold others back by remaining faithful to their purpose.
Stepping ahead with faith wins every time. Hope beats hopelessness every time. Love beats hate every time. The enemy wants you to do the following:
- Do too much in a short period of time
- Be disorganized
- Be unprepared
- Be rushed
- Not have all the information you need
- Do things that are unrealistic
Stepping Ahead of What Competes for Your Time
Your time is precious and presented at this link is a tool to help you evaluate your daily activities. The tab at the bottom of the spreadsheet has a tab named Precious Time. Continuously review and update these activities.
Added to this spreadsheet is another tab at the bottom named Daily Time Analysis which has six days set up so you can do an analysis over the next six days by recording how you now use your time. Simply keep this log available throughout your day and record how you used your time. This study should help you determine if there is time spent in your daily routine that is fruitless so you can turn it into productive time.
Once you become aware of time throughout your day that could be spent on more productive tasks, be willing to take on the challenge. Study what competes with you making full use of your time so you can develop a game plan to come out on top.
Plans of Action to a Better Way to Use My Time
Pointed out so far is the need to “Reflect to Deflect” or look back and do some analysis of how you use your time. This is done to come up with ideas to deflect activities that compete for your time so you can use your time for more productive activities.
The next step is to list any obstacles in your way. You have to step ahead of what competes for your time. At this link is a blog post to get you in the right frame of mind. Life sometimes doesn’t seem fair but this story about Jim Thorpe reminds that you don’t have to resign to excuses that only hold you back.
Take the ideas created during your analysis so far and then use this lesson’s new form called Better Way to Use My Time at this link. The first step is to write out an idea for better using your time called “Reflect to Deflect”.
The next step is to list any obstacles in your way called “Stepping Ahead of What Competes for My Time”. Analyze how you use your time and write down what competes for your time.
For example: a person may put things off because they lack the confidence to make decisions. The obstacle in their way is indecision but by writing out what is in their way to reaching decisions more quickly, they can come up with solutions to overcome this obstacle.
They can also use their past successes to build confidence. Use lessons from their past to help in their future. They can use deadlines to motivate them towards analyzing and collecting information to help with decisions.
They can keep a calendar with tasks written on an imperative/important list and tell others when a decision will be made. They can apply computer applications like Microsoft word and excel to help organize their daily lives.
They can develop databases to organize synergies between faith, art, music, books, and movies with the purpose of spreading God’s word in the most efficient and productive way across His world and into the lives of His people. Document lessons learned from the Bible, in life, and from each other to help get motivated for each day. To affirm, inspire, and help start their day with a positive frame of mind.
Quotes, Thoughts, or Scripture to Inspire
To take action day by day, you need faith to go forward. To develop a better way to use your time requires daily connection to food for the soul and a sustaining faith is possible if there is a connection to the Vine. Faith gained on Sunday will pull you through on Monday so you can step ahead into Tuesday and the rest of the week.
Formulation of statements to help build faith to support the behavior patterns you would like to adopt are necessary. One way to accomplish this is to document positive quotes, pictures, music, ideas, and thoughts that encourage, energize, and inspire.
Read books with a purpose by mapping out the main thoughts of the book and writing them down. Develop a system to collect and file away these positive items throughout life. It will give you a purpose in reading, listening during conversation, seeing movies, listening to music, and living life.
The form called Better Way to Use My Time at this link has a section called Quotes, Thoughts, or Scripture to Inspire. This section is there to record affirmations that provide inspiration and help push you toward this idea of using your time in a more productive way.
Love what God loves. My pastor for many years, Steve Ramsdell said one time in a sermon that if life seems useless, tiresome, dull or insignificant; remember life is designed for eternity. Get to know God, strive to be like Christ, and share life’s purpose with others. The God of the Bible is thoughtfully purposeful. His word is there to guide you through life, influence your values, and prepare you for positive outcomes.
Add quality to your faith by planting the seeds of God’s principles so that they grow in the fertile garden of your soul; producing food not only for yourself but also for others. When you see, hear, feel, smell, and speak of your reinvigorated faith … positive results occur.
People that are constantly able to add quality to their faith, become a true believer and this is clearly revealed in their heart as faith. Bad situations are turned around with a momentum shift and there is given to them the power to apply their faith. The result is a purpose driven life in which everything is done for the glory of God.
Importance of Using My Time More Wisely
The objective of using your time more wisely is to gain a benefit or avoid a loss. As stated at the beginning of this post, there is an enemy. Document the principles you find in the Bible and write your personal playbook that takes the values or lessons found in the Bible and provides a way to step ahead of the enemy.
The scripture tells us about David who found himself under a lot of distress. David teaches about how to overcome difficulties with prayer. He teaches about praying with the assurance that God hears your prayers. David’s faith gave him optimism and courage; the same weapons you need to overcome your difficulties.
One constant foe to good use of time are interruptions. That’s why many recommend having a quiet time with Bible reading and prayer early in the morning when there are no interruptions. Set aside some time early each morning to read the Bible with the objective of collecting lessons learned, ideas, and thoughts from reflection.
These will become your affirmations (Quotes, Thoughts, or Scripture to Inspire). One idea is to read the Bible and have a prayer time. Then take a short walk in your neighborhood and reflect along your walk about what has been good in your life recently or what has been bad. When you get back from your walk, write out your thoughts. Set a goal to collect at least five of these thoughts per week.
If you accomplish your goal for that week, give yourself a reward like sleeping in on Saturday, playing a round of golf, going to a movie, or a night out to your favorite restaurant for dinner. If the goal is not met, use the weekend to catch up until you meet your goal.
Rewards are important because they provide you with something to look forward to. Attainment of your goal starts with thoughts and ideas which inspire creativity, persistence, poise, and good judgment. They initiate the steps needed to get things done. I remember picking berries near the railroad tracks next to our house as a little boy around ten. It was rewarding to find a group of vines with ripe berries – enough for Mom to make a blueberry pie.
In 2 Chronicles 5, when the work on the Temple was complete, there was a celebration. So the lesson is that when there is victory, celebrate your achievements. Future rewards will influence your present life because they will motivate you towards doing the activities that will lead to success.
