Greetings brethren and Happy Sabbath!

Budgets

Most of us are familiar with the idea of a budget. It’s basically a good estimate of how you plan to spend your money. In a corporation, they might ask their employees to estimate how much money they plan to spend in the upcoming year for various projects. Costs might run a little high or low, but if the budget is reasonably accurate, it will help the company plan ahead and avoid any unpleasant financial surprises.

Personally, budgets are a good idea too. If we make a good estimate of what we spend every month on things like food, housing, clothing, entertainment, etc., we can avoid getting ourselves into debt. All around, budgets are a helpful tool to have, whether you’re a business or just use it to personally track your finances.

More than just money

Budgets are a great way to track your time as well.  How much of my week do I spend working? Commuting? Preparing food and eating it? Relaxing? Sleeping? In Bible Study? Prayer? When you start laying out your budget of your time each week, it’s easy to see that there is often more to do than there is time!

A key to making a good time budget is prioritizing what is important. Some things like work, school and commuting have fairly fixed times.  Other things like preparing and eating meals and entertainment can vary widely. Still, other things change over time. While our children are small, they need lots of care and attention. As they grow, they become more independent, eventually to the point they are on their own. While that is sad in one respect, it points to how we spend our time can change, over time.

Making time for what’s important

Certainly, those years with young children at home are fleeting, and spending time with them is a priority. But be careful — regardless of our age and family situation, it’s all too easy to neglect spending time with God.

Having a budget for both time and money is very helpful. As you consider how you spend each of those, don’t forget God in your estimates. Not only should we honor Him with tithes and offerings, don’t forget we need to spend appreciable time with Him in prayer and study every day!