Managing free time

Now that sounds like an oxymoron...why would anyone want to manage free time?  Free time should be essentially time that does not have to be managed.  Right?

Wrong.

At least, for me.  Blessed with an extraordinary opportunity to be away--I am gone twelve weeks during the year to allow for Pastor Mark's continued transition into his role as senior pastor in 2013--I wrestle with all kinds of varying emotions and self-imposed pressures.

Guilt.  Self-indulgence.  Guilt   Work-aholism.  Guilt.  Other's expectations.  Guilt.

This weekend we traveled in our trailer with good friends, enjoying free time.  We hiked ( 11 miles in one trip), boated on the majestic Lake Oroville (a beautiful surprise), played games (Shanghai is our favorite "Christian" card game), slept in (7 am is late for us), had long devotional discussions and prayer time together (Bev and I got to do this without a clock ticking in the background), barbecued outside and ate too much.

We camped where there was no internet reception--no wi-fi, and we had opted not to bring a computer.  Of course, I had my mini-portable computer--my IPhone--which allowed me painstakingly slow email reception---but we  were generally shut off from the real world...the world I unsuccessfully try to manage.

Managing free time for me demands "intentionality".  The discussion about the IPhone, computer, church work, TLC work, counseling--these all have to be managed--which means, put aside.  I do that with varying degrees of success, depending on hopw willing I am to listen to a loving wife's counsel.

What I am learning to do is to embrace my free time as just that--time in which I am free to decide what I will do with this precious commodity.  Will I read for pure enjoyment?  Will I hike for the beauty and the exhilaration I feel?  Will I sit quietly in the sun under the shad of a tree for the sheer joy of unencumbered rest?   Will I leave my watch aside for the wanton pleasure of not being on a planned schedule?

These are choices I have to make in managing free time. Solomon's words from Ecclesiastes 3 resonate in my heart today.  "There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven..."