Surviving Your Schedule

By Rick Warren

An intelligent person aims at wise action, but a fool starts off in many directions. Proverbs 17:24

Do you ever get to the end of your day and think “Did I accomplish anything today?” Where does all the time go?

If you don’t master your schedule, it will master you. Here are three suggestions from the Bible for reducing the stress of your schedule:

Line up your priorities. Obviously, you don’t have time to do everything. You must make choices. You must decide what’s really important and what isn’t. Take some time to consider the direction of your life.

• “It is stupid to waste time on useless projects” (Proverbs 12:11)

• “You may make your plans, but God directs your actions” (Proverbs 16:9)

Lighten up your attitude. Do you really have to do everything on your to-do list? No one is holding a gun to your head. A lot of your stress is self-imposed. The Bible says that God gave us humor as a stress reliever.

•          “Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up” (Proverbs 12:25).

•          “A relaxed attitude lengthens life; jealousy rots it away” (Proverbs 14:30).

•          “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength” (Proverbs 17:22).

Look up to God. Stress is always a warning light that you’ve taken your focus off God and are looking at your problems from your limited viewpoint. I believe the single greatest cause of stress is this: We take ourselves too seriously and we don’t take God seriously enough!

Need more time in your schedule?

•          “Fear of the Lord lengthens one’s life, but the years of the wicked are cut short” (Proverbs 10:27).

•          “Those who fear the Lord are secure; he will be a place of refuge for their children” (Proverbs 14:26).