What do you (especially those of you who, like me, work mostly at home) say when someone asks the dreaded ques­tion – what have you been up to lately? What have you been busy at? ... Why is it so hard to answer specifically, when one is responsible for managing one's own time at home? It would be so much easier – and seemingly so much more acceptable – to be able to say, "Oh, I've been flat out at work." It's as if the sim­ple difference of driving out the door and spending the day in someone else's or­ganised employ means you've been wor­thily occupied. Many is the time I have struggled to recall what I've been doing to the satisfaction of a kindly interested asker! Some would say it's simply that homemaking is demeaned in modern eyes as unworthwhile activity – and cer­tainly, the subtle temptation is to ampli­fy one's description of one's home-work to something that at least sounds pro­fessionally acceptable, especially when the asker is a professional friend. Then, there are those hard-working types who regard activities like housework as some­thing to be achieved in a half-hour each morning – surely you could be doing something more worthwhile the rest of the day? Again, others imply that unless you are doing something which makes some money (however little, as a tangi­ble sign of activity) you are an idler. Usually this sort of person is not too enthu­siastic when you tell them you have been spending time reading – whether it be background for bible study, reading to know the Lord better, or simply getting to know great works of literature some­where between lunch for the shearers and the ironing! This is a problem. It is a problem because it has to do with the difficulty of deciding what is useful activ­ity and what is not. And in deciding, we need to be clear in our own minds be­fore the Lord, not just scurrying for the approval of man.

Paul's Plea⤒🔗

Much of the answer, I believe, is found in Paul's urgent plea to the Ephesian church that they redeem the time, since the days are evil (Eph. 5:16; KJV). I'm sure you've often heard the expression "redeeming the time" – but have you reflected on its meaning and implica­tions? Usually, people use it to suggest we should pack more quick, efficient lit­tle tasks into our daily routine – like mem­orising a verse while we do the dishes, or cleaning an extra window or two while we wait for someone who's five minutes late coming in for lunch. But it means a lot more than that. Paul's command ac­tually helps us sort out the big ques­tion of what is important, and what is less important use of time as welcoming in the context of a series of warn­ings to be on their spiritual guard, Paul's exhortation to "redeem the time" is a plea that the Ephesians focus on what is spiritually important. He has just fin­ished urging them to avoid any involve­ment in immorality, coveting and idola­try; to shun (even expose) the "deeds of darkness" of others around them. They are to make efforts to "learn what is pleasing to the Lord", and to "walk not as unwise men, but as wise." This is the context of the command to "redeem (some translations have 'make the most of') your time, because the days are evil." It is clearly a plea to seize one's oppor­tunities to do what is important in God's eyes, and to do it with all possible ur­gency. Matthew Henry, so helpful for practical application, explains that this verse teaches us to seek out, as an ea­ger buyer or merchant, time and oppor­tunity to do God's work. There is force and urgency in the command –we should be "after it", with drive, so to speak. And why? The verse gives us the reason ­because the "days are evil." Most com­mentators observe that the Ephesians faced, or were about to face, persecu­tion for their Christian faith. Who knew how long they would live? Would they shortly be prevented from speaking open­ly about Christ? Then they should seize every possible opportunity for speaking about Him now, lest their time were lim­ited. But as well as that, they needed to take every opportunity to learn how to please God. The need to do this in evil days is obvious. There is so much around the Christian that tempts him or her to do otherwise than pleasing God. Wast­ing time and opportunity in this respect is not only sin in the first place; its is going to lead to further sin of all different kinds. This principle was true for the early Christians; and it is just as true for us today. We live in a world which desperately needs to know Him; but it is also a world which tempts us to do everything other than know Him and serve Him.

Our Choices...←⤒🔗

So how does this principle translate into daily choices about time-allocation? Clear­ly, it means deciding what is most important and then pur­suing it with vigour. If we are working on the basis that our lives are short (Scripture re­minds us of that in so many places) and that our opportu­nities to serve Christ are met with every kind of opposition in this world, then it behoves us to strive with all our ener­gy to choose carefully those kinds of activity which will most nearly meet that goal. Of course, we have to do this in the general context of our calling in life. For most in paid employment, the choices have to be fit­ted around the high priority of serving their employer. But for those of us who are homemakers, the possibilities are truly endless. We, after all, have the ad­vantage of managing much of our own time!

...in Time←⤒🔗

A first point could be that we have responsibility to manage our time well. Sometimes the sceptics are right about those of us at home – we can become absent-minded and unnecessarily slow. How many times have you been like me, and marched purposefully into a room, only to find yourself unable to remem­ber what it was you went in there for? What about the 15-minute afternoon tea which became an hour when the roman­tic novel got really interesting? Or the friendly phone call about prayer needs which slid unnecessarily into a 2-hour gossip? A good friend of ours, a time‑management "nutto" at his job in com­puting, admitted once, when he had to be at home for a week-long stretch, that he'd gained a huge new respect for wom­en at home. He found himself spending whole days without achieving anything useful, due to frittering the time away. He reckoned that homemakers who got a lot done had to be really disciplined! The challenge is big, I must admit. I've just read a book on the Proverbs 31 woman* that stressed the importance of time management, even advocating going to seminars to learn techniques. It was very motivating, and I've certainly gotten a lot more done since – for in­stance, the author's point about getting up at 4 a.m. and launching into the housework in the cool of the day has set me thinking that it isn't such a disaster to wake at 4 and not be able to get back to sleep. Gardening is cooler then!

...in People←⤒🔗

However, one can become over-obsessed, and I can't help thinking that if one's sole focus is on time-use efficien­cy the overall spiritual goal of getting to know God and serv­ing Him better can be lost. This is particularly true when it comes to getting-the-work­-done versus time for people. Too much emphasis on the former means temptation to resent the casual popper-in as the person who "stole" the half-hour you'd set aside to clean the pantry! (But maybe you are more sanctified than me, and are only too delight­ed to forget the ironing for a while when someone drives in the driveway!) Women at home are able to do important work for people. To put this in perspective, evangelical churches all over the world are noticing how much less they are able to do in the way of helping ministries and out­reach, now that women are so often busy at work and other things during the day. After all, we at home are the ones who have the time and opportunity to do all those important things – the encourag­ing phone call, the thoughtful little email, the carefully-written card that says "thank you", the meal for the mother too sick to cook for her family. When it comes to eternally beneficial help for others, our ever-busy professional friends could well envy us, if their own thinking is straight!

...in Priority←⤒🔗

But the last thing that occurs to me overshadows all the rest. That is the prin­ciple of using our time well to know Christ. Remember the story of Mary and Martha? You could say they were both homemakers, and had discretion over the use of their time. Jesus commend­ed Mary for choosing the better way to spend it. Martha believed she was serv­ing others – and she was – but Mary was redeeming her time (her Master was with her for such a short time!) by learning from Him. We can follow Mary's exam­ple in the choices we make in our own time management. Do we have a high priority on bible study and prayer? Do we put aside time to reflect on Christ and His love for us? Do we stop to con­sider how the important truths about salvation should be reflected in everything that we do? Are we really living lives that glorify God and enjoy Him? Are we, for instance, serving others and burning to tell them about the way to be saved because we love God? It's only as we put time and effort into knowing God and learning how to please Him (Eph. 5:10) that we will be getting the practical, eve­ryday things in our life right. And this, in reality, is what redeeming the time is all about.