One hour a week--that's all it takes.
Each of us receives 24 hours a day, 168 hours a week. It's one of the great equalizers in this reality--no one gets more or less.
If you're interested in the math, one hour is .00595 of a week, just above half of one percent. Divided up equally over a week, it represents about 8.5 minutes a day.
Pretty small, right?
But even that hour, depending on how it is used, can have great transformational power over the course of a year, and over one's life. Over a year, that is 52 hours. Over a lifetime, it is something closer to 4,000 hours.
For what would you like to use your hour? How do you need to use it?
Prayer comes to mind. Is 8.5 minutes a day too much to spend with our Living God? Apparently, it is for me if my actions speak more accurately than my words or intention.
Reading the Bible, God's Word, is also a candidate for that weekly hour. How far would one get in the Bible each year if one only read 8.5 minutes a day, 60 minutes a week? I wonder...
Reading anything. As you probably know, the reading habits, levels, and abilities of adults have been plummeting for decades. Not literacy, mind you; that has been relatively stable. What has changed though is the willingness and ability of adults to read extensive amounts of text in books, newspapers, articles, etc. Most of our contemporaries spend any reading time browsing websites, checking on social media, etc., none of which historically has counted as reading.
What could you start intentionally and purposefully pursuing to use your hour this week? Or even your two or three? How could you use your 8.5 minutes a day in one or more of these areas, or other important overlooked parts of your life?
I am challenged by writing this, trust me, as I am in the same boat with you. The number of distractions--even for good things--seems to grow with each passing year.(Maybe even reading this letter is one such distraction!) All of us have excuses; I do, too. But I also know that life is short and our opportunity right now is to do what we can to support our own and our children's growth.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this--send me an email at bbyrd@rmcaonline.org -- or better yet, reach out to schedule an in-person or video conversation. And share what you are doing with someone else. Such an act of vulnerability and accountability can go a long way to help a friend or new acquaintance know that such habits, discipline, and character is exactly what each of us can do to help our school stay RMCA Strong!
