How can we avoid making too many commitments? The only way to make wise decisions about what to do with our time is to contemplate. In silence. Alone. In prayer to God, the source of all wisdom and the One to whom we will have to give account for our decisions. In this full and busy world, we need to “discipline” our bodies and minds with silence and solitude.
Dallas Willard, in The Spirit of the Disciplines, writes of solitude:
Solitude frees us, actually. The normal course of day-to-day human interactions locks us into patterns of feeling, thought and action that are geared to a world set against God. Nothing but solitude can allow the development of a freedom from the ingrained behaviors that hinder our integration into God’s order.
Henri Nouwen writes that silence “is the way to make solitude a reality.”
Jesus is the perfect example. He “went up to a mountainside to pray,” or even hopped into a boat on the sea to escape the crowds. He wasn’t doing these things out of selfishness. I’m convinced that Jesus went off alone far more often than we read about. Christ practiced solitude and silence for the sake of those He ministered to. In His humanity, He needed to pause and think; to listen to God; to discern what to do and what not to do. How much more, then, ought we to do the same!
From the works of those with far more experience and wisdom than me, I have gleaned the following strategy, which I would recommend for every college student:
1) Get alone! Find a quiet place and time during each day, where you can give your undivided attention to your thoughts and intentions. Take a journal or day-planner.
2) Remind yourself why you are here. This may include consulting Scripture to review who you are as a creation of God or reading your journal to review the desires of your heart. Acknowledge your gifts, and remember that they were given to you so that you can use them to build up others. With your lifetime goals in mind, think about what you desire to accomplish this week.
3) Think about the things you have to do today. Surrender them all to Christ, the Lord of all. Many activities are already set in stone for you, like your classes and work, but arrange the others into levels of first, second and third importance. Schedule times in your day for all the Level One items first (e.g., studying for tomorrow’s test or having a serious talk with your friend). Choose times that you know you will be most productive, energetic, calm or whatever is required to do those things well. Fit in whichever Level Two items you can. Keep all the leftovers on a list for later. In time, your Level Three items will either become Level One items (like that test next week!) and you can schedule them in, or they will fade into the realm of the Unimportant and Unnecessary (like rearranging your sock drawer) and you’ll be glad you didn’t waste your time on them.
4) Start this process over again the next day. Adjust your schedule and your priorites according to things you learn along the way. You will become very good at gauging how long it takes you to read 20 textbook pages, and the difference in effectiveness between studying in the library and studying in your room. You will discover whether you study best in the early part of the day or the later part. You will discover how long to set aside each day for this very process of prioritizing and scheduling.
Of course, things will always “come up.” You’ll receive invitations for fun, you’ll find opportunities to work more hours (i.e., earn more money), and friends will stop by to chat while you are in the middle of a Level One task. Here’s a good rule to carry with you: Say “yes” to the best … and “no” the rest. I guarantee that you will have to say “no” to some good things. The good news is: you’ll only be turning them down in order to say “yes” to the very best things!
A lot of Psalms refer to seeking God “early in the morning.” Great idea; a little difficult to employ in the hectic schedule of college. If you find this impossible, don’t give up altogether. But DO make some time each day to be alone, to calm your soul, to reflect on the mass quantities of information you have taken in. This time of soul-solitude is so important to some people that they rise in the middle of the night to benefit from the silence. There is no single prescription as to how to make room for this quiet time, but human history tells us how necessary it is to our spiritual health that we have it sometime, regularly. Even books by secular time-management experts tell us to take some quiet time each day to review our personal goals and to prioritize that day’s activities before doing any of them.
Annie Dillard, one of my favorite writers, once wrote:
“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” One day when you look back at how you spent your life, don’t you want to have zero-regrets? Wouldn’t you like to be able to say that you said “yes” to the very best, and “no” to all the other good things? Although eager advice-givers always abound, won’t it be nice to look back on the times when you consulted God each day for instructions?(this is just part of an article by Laurel L. Cornell from Boundless.org - it is a great website with a biblical worldview.... )
check it out.
