A question submitted by Brittany at 2:13am: "I'm a full-time student, and I have a great part-time job that i love!  I'm the president of my class, and the spokesperson for the charity our class supports.  I also volunteer with a local youth ministry, and I'm preparing to compete in a pageant soon.  I'm juggling a lot, and i also want to make time for my parents, whom i love dearly.  Any advice?"

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I do see that you sent this message at 2:13am (what?!). This could've been a totally isolated incident (working at 2:13am, that is), but just in case it isn't, and as someone who loves & cares about you, i just want to give you a little word of warning: I love how involved you are in everything -- and how very excellent you are at everything you do (i really mean that -- you are absolutely AMAZING, Brittany), and as someone who loves you and who also personally struggles with this exact same issue everyday, you have to protect yourself from over-extension. Because no one else is going to protect you from it. In fact, quite the opposite!

Because you are so valuable, people are going to constantly call upon you to do stuff -- because you're so good at everything you do! And while that is a good and very complimentary thing, you've gotta have YOUR boundaries in place so that you don't over-extend, burn-out, develop stomach ulcers and high blood pressure, and die! Hahaha -- i'm exaggerating, but seriously over-extension can wear you thin and dilute your effectiveness.  And as Jesus warned us, "the theif has come to steal, kill, and destroy", which means Satan knows you can't be your best YOU if you are always stressed-out, tired, and multi-tasking.

I SAY ALL OF THIS OUT OF GENUINE LOVE FOR YOU, I HOPE YOU KNOW THAT!!!

Imagine that your daily time is like a paycheck. And regarding money, God's Word clearly teaches us to (1) Give First, (2) Save Next, and (3) Live Off The Rest. So put those same three priorities into play with your schedule:

(1) GIVE FIRST -- Have your own spiritual health -- your openness and communication in your relationship with God (prayer & Scripture meditation) -- as your top priorities.

(2) SAVE NEXT -- This is is where you take care of YOU! Prioritize your schedule to make room for 8 hours of sleep, eating well, & exercizing each day; and reserve some time in your week for doing stuff YOU enjoy doing every now and then!

(3) LIVE OFF THE REST -- After you've prioritized your spiritual health and your physical health, then you can feel good about giving all of the rest of your time away to family, school, work, volunteering, competitions, etc. But those things have to fit around your spiritual and physical health -- not the other way around. That's the part i have the most trouble with myself...

I'm getting ready to take a personal day away from work & home, just to get alone with God, place my daily & weekly routines before the Lord and say, "HELP ME!", and then just listen to Him. I'm spread too thin myself, and i'm going to get before Him and just let Him do some major reorganization of my TIME. I'm not much of a "New Year's Resolution"-type person, but my goal is to have a new daily & weekly routine put into place by January 1, 2011... i'll let you know how it goes!

Plus, if you think about it, the phrase "live off the rest" is a pretty applicable pun in this situation... :-)

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Brittany's reply:  "Your email really did help me put some things in perspective. I really have a problem. I enjoy doing so many things, and helping others, but it has gotten to the point where I am just exhausted. I am going to take your words and put them into action. Please keep me in prayer for this. I constantly say to myself exactly what your email stated, but I always find myself constantly thinking of what I could be working on. I never just sit and relax. Even when I was in the airport waiting for my next flight, I typed a five page paper for school. This weekend, I started to tell my mom, who desparately wanted time with me, that I needed to get some work done on my computer. But, then I remembered reading your email, and close my computer and did not check my email, facebook, my charity's account, or anything until now. Thank you for taking your time in writing me the email that you did! And, keep me posted how you work on your schedule of things!"

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I've begun putting a few safe guards in place for myself. The structure of my life is different than yours, so these probably won't be directly applicable... but maybe these can give you a few ideas...

1. I generally don't get online on Saturday or Sunday -- no e-mail, facebook, or other online activity on those two days.
2. Also, i generally don't get online after about 6pm on week days -- there are exceptions, of course, but i try to keep my e-mailing & facebooking to 8am-6pm, Mon-Fri.
3. 6pm-9pm belongs to my family everyday. I usually don't even have my phone anywhere near me during that time. That time is theirs! If i miss any calls or texts during those hours, i'll just respond to them after my kids are in bed after 9pm.
4. For years, i never took a Sabbath. They sounded like a nice idea, but just didn't seem feasible or realistic to me. Then i started reading more and more in God's Word about WHY He wanted His people to take a weekly Sabbath... and then i (only recently) tried to start working them into my routine. I'll confess that i probably only take about 2 a month (instead of the 1 a week i should), but hey, that's a start!

Your work & family life are completely different from mine, so these ideas may not work for you exactly as they do for me. But maybe these ideas can get your mind rolling on ways to start getting you in control of your schedule, instead of the other way around!