You, Me, and the Inbetween

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   It's hard to be a steward of your money, time, and talents. With everything happening on a day-to-day basis, we can easily become overwhelmed, spend too much money or too little time. But I am here today to get you back on track (and I don't require any payment... unless you really want to ;) So here I am with some tips on managing your money, time, and talents. Let's start with money:

• Tithe always.  I believe God will bless you if you give back to him. And also you're more likely to spend less money on things you don't need if that money is in the offering plate. The Bible says 10%, but sometimes God lays it on your heart to give more. Pray about it - He may guide you to do something you never even thought of!
• Trust God.  What does this have to do with money, you ask? I'll tell you. Sometimes we have excuses for not doing "good deeds" - sometimes those excuses are realistic. Sometimes they involve money. Example: for the past few months (probably longer), I've really wanted to sponsor a Compassion child. But I don't have a real job, and I never know when I'm gonna get money. But for the past year or so I've had a fairly steady babysitting job through the fall and winter, but it doesn't bring in a whole lot of cash, and once softball starts up, I can't be as committed to it. So my excuse for not sponsoring a child was lack of money - and it was true. I didn't have a lot of cash and didn't want to make a commitment I couldn't stick to. Well, now since late summer, my grandma has made me her official housecleaning lady and that combined with babysitting has given me a decent monthly check. But I still was staying away from sponsoring a child, because I would be getting just a bit more than enough to sponsor and if I happened to be unable to do one job or the other, I'd be out of cash. Well, I've said the heck with it. I've heard so many stories and God providing for kids who have had hard times getting jobs to provide for their Compassion child, and they don't do much more than mow lawns or babysit. But they trusted God and He's continued to pull through. So I decided to put my trust in Him, because I truly believe this is something He wants me to do, and I'm quite glad to say I will start sponsoring a child through Compassion after Christmas :D It's a Christmas gift that gives both ways!

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A very nice random photo :)

   Time is another crazy thing. And honestly, I'm not much help when it comes to it. But I have a few ideas that, though I don't follow them myself, if I did, I'd probably have a much easier life ;)

• Follow through.  Sometimes we put things into our schedule that we realize afterwards we really didn't have time for. But once you make a commitment, unless you can undoubtedly back out without any problems, follow through. This will probably happen a lot if you're horrible at managing your time,  like me :P
• Make a schedule.  Sometimes if you make up a chart and put in slots for free time and work time, it's easier to see when you're free. That way if you get 3 calls to babysit in one week, you'll know which ones to take and which ones to decline - and don't feel bad about saying no! I know too many people who say yes to EVERYTHING and honestly, I can't say that they're very happy. Know how much is too much. I like to make a schedule of my day, and assign the items on my To-Do List to various time slots in my schedule. It's easier to get laundry done when you have "Do Laundry at 3:00" written down somewhere... at least I think so.
• Find time to de-stress.  If you just came out of a hectic week, maybe running through the city, partying, or doing more work isn't the best idea for the weekend. Sometimes a nice quiet weekend at home can be very relaxing. If you happen to have a few last minute, small tasks you didn't complete during the week, you can find a comfortable time to complete them. Grab a book or movie, do your nails (I'm thinking candy cane stripes would be aaawesome), stay in your PJs all day. Forgot to do laundry? Throw a load in when you wake up and forget about it. Play a board game with your siblings. Make some hot cocoa. Maybe spend a day "partially off the grid" by staying away from the computer, TV, and video games. Go for a run. Walk the dog. If you have snow, act like a kid and go sledding! Some people run on going all the time, but even those people need to relax.

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   Talents are also very difficult to dish out. It's hard to know the proper balance between doing too much and not enough. If you don't know what your talent is, find what you enjoy doing and use it to serve others. That generally works pretty well, I think (unless your passion is taxidermy or something... then, I'd pass).

• Know when to say no.  If you're the best babysitter in the world, you may get calls every night to babysit. But you have to be realistic. If you're cutting out schoolwork to earn a few bucks, you may want to rethink what you're doing.
• Know when to say yes.  Oh, you trickster! you're probably saying. Yea. You know, sometimes you may have to move out of your comfort zone to properly use your talents. It will probably be worth it if you do. And don't let the fear of failure keep you from doing what you love.

   OK, I think I've wasted enough of your time this morning. I need to get school done... so I can play in the five inches of snow we received last night!

Cheers<3