What To Do With An Extra Hour

Yesterday I heard a commentator pondering what to do with an extra hour this weekend.  He suggested a number of options from reading one of several books that he had purchased but never had time to read to starting or completing a number of projects around the house.  I used my extra hour this weekend to attend a fascinating lecture.  It felt like a guilty pleasure, and because I had an extra hour, it was mine to indulge.

The commentary got me started thinking, not only about what to do with the extra hour this weekend, but also about settling into a normal work schedule.  After a year of 11- and 12-hour days, would I know how to use two extra hours each day?  Last week I worked in a different organization and I was able to leave almost-on-time two days.

I found myself at loose ends when I got home at 6.  I did a number of little projects, including making phone calls to businesses that are usually closed by the time I got home.  But, mostly I frittered the time away without focus.  I couldn't remember when I hadn't felt like I was on a dead-run from project to project without time to breathe.  Suddenly, I had time to exhale, and I'd forgotten how.

The commentary yesterday reminded me that I didn't have an extra hour in a weekend, but would soon have an extra two hours a day.  I want to be intentional about what I do with the gift of an extra day each week.  I am not sure that I've ever really appreciated what a gift time is, and there are things I really want to make sure that I accomplish.  What would take me where I wanted to go?   I had some ideas.

Yesterday I entertained some special women friends for a lazy, lingering brunch.  After they were gone, and I'd cleaned up my kitchen, I decided that Job One was cleaning off my desk.  Actually, that isn't quite right.  My desk was clean, but only because I'd gathered up the mess before my guests arrived and shoved it into a closet.  Intuitively, I knew that I couldn't be intentional about dispensing with my extra hours if I didn't know what was in my stack.

I reduced the stack by half and then started a list.  Writing is on the top of it.  I hope that you will soon be seeing more regular posts to this blog because I have a full page of notes about posts to write.  My head was literally spinning with all the ideas.  More came this morning in church.  Others have popped in this afternoon.  I felt like cleaning the desk had cleared out thinking room in my brain. 

Getting back in shape is right up there too.  Exercising isn't really competing for writing with Number One.  Exercising is how I used to clear the cobwebs of the day's activities from my brain so that I could listen.  Exercising feels more to me like how I facilitate writing than competition with writing for time.

On the desk, I also found my list of last-day items that I'd created after a blog post last winter about living each day as if it is your last.  Since it got buried in the stack, nothing more had been accomplished.  The list has worked its way to the top of my stack.

Amazingly for me, that is where I stopped, and that's a good thing.  I tend to be someone who makes big lists and then accomplishes just a few items before either becoming overwhelmed or getting distracted.  I think it is good that I am being very intentional about how I will use my extra day each week. 

I also think it is good that I don't fill every moment with replacement activities.  I want to have time to exhale; that is something I don't want to forget.  Who knows? When I exhale, I might just make space to breathe in new and wonderful miracles that I can't anticipate.  That is where I allow God to be God.