Time management and productivity are hot topics, and ones that fascinate me, but we must be careful to look at them in a healthy way. Why do we want more time in a day? What are we looking to produce? Are we plowing through the to-do list because we enjoy the checkmarks (oh, so much!), or because we are making time for priorities?

What is our priority? There are several big picture answers to that, all different expressions of one concept.

One is straight from Jesus – “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matt. 22:37-39).

Or a shorter answer is found in the Westminster Shorter Catechism – “What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”

We know many verses that detail how our love for God should show in our daily obedience, and we will talk about most, if not all, of them during the course of this blog. But we need the great purpose before us in the day-to-day steps as motivation and inspiration. We need to be protected by this love and pursuit of God’s glory to prevent us from straying into self-centeredness and shallow pleasures.

As we discuss time management, organization, homemaking, creating beauty, broadening horizons, and much more, I beg of you to keep the glorious as an umbrella over the good and great. Women, are you seeking to accomplish more in your workday simply as an accomplishment and way for promotion, or to have greater time and ability to be “teachers of good things” (Titus 2:3)? Wives, are you planning out your day just because you love a smooth calendar, or so you can best serve your husband and be free to enjoy family devotions in the evening with a clear mind? Daughters, are you getting faster at completing daily homework so you can spend more time on social media, or so you can cheerfully and easily obey when after-dinner chores are required?

There are so many draws on our time and attention, but one thing is best. Samuel Pearce, in a letter to a church member’s daughter, said it this way, “I hope that my dear Ann, amidst the various pursuits of an ornamental or scientific nature which she may adopt, will not omit that first, that great concern, the dedication of her heart to God.”*

As we look well to the ways of our households, we will examine and practice the good and better – but we will always seek what is best.

* A Heart for Missions: Memoir of Samuel Pearce by Andrew Fuller, Solid Ground Christian Books, 2005, page 163.