Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you. -Carl Sandberg

When I was a kid, my grandparents would help me and my little brother pull of a lemonade stand each summer. They of course did all the work, and we thought we were entrepreneurs, but nonetheless the memories are as sweet as the lemonade was. My grandparents forged all of the effort to make this a big deal and an actual payday for us. We sold canned goods, baked goods, sweets and treats, and everything good that a grandmother can make; the lemonade was the side show. Folks from all over our small town would come and buy up everything. Little Braxton had no idea the time and work it took to make this gig happen. While the end result of this operation each summer was a payday for me, the truth is the lesson around the time and effort put in to pulling this off has paid much more dividends than whatever I blew that money on so many years ago. Time is the most valuable currency, and the reality is everyone has the same amount of it, and everyone gets to determine how it is spent. Let me explain:

Time spent with God is time well spent. Period. | Back in the old days of news (I’m a media nerd), the lead story was what the producers and editors deemed to be the most important or pressing. A network wouldn’t lead a broadcast with pop-culture nonsense, the lead story was reserved for pressing matters of politics and human interest. Time spent with God is time well spent is a pithy way of saying that time with Him should be prioritized. If you are a follower of Christ you know and hold to this, but that reminder is worthy of leading with. Every time. No matter where you might fall on the faith spectrum, consistently remind yourself that time with God is time well spent (Psalm 119:11, Matthew 6:6, 2 Timothy 3:16, James 4:8).

There’s always time. | I hold a deeply engrained disdain for the word “busy.” Candidly, I don’t even like typing it, and I’d argue that the use of that word is relational cancer. Here’s the thing: we’re all busy. Grade school was busy with homework and sports, college was busy with more homework and an attempt to maintain a social life, adulthood is busy with work and responsibility and combinations of everything else aforementioned. Add in relationships, and guess what? Life is busy – and that’s okay. Busyness does not equate to a deficit of time. In fact, busyness is just a matter of prioritizing your time, and if I’ve learned anything it’s that people make the time for what they prioritize and for what truly matters. There’s always time, and an accurate way to audit a man’s priorities is to audit how he spends his time. It’s a privilege to prioritize (or make) time for people that you love; I often do this very poorly, and have been gifted many wonderful friends that have pursued me and sought out time with me throughout the years. I beg you, please don’t let busyness get in the way of prioritizing your people. There is always time, and that’s the paradox of it; it’s the most valuable currency but it’s also the most easily ascertainable.

The end of the lemonade stand always amounted to a time together in the living room where we would clean everything up and count the profit. The reality was that when time and resources invested were factored in, my brother and I were quite in debt, given that we contributed nothing, yet we both got to walk away with a pay day that included full hearts, bellies, and pockets. That my friends, is a picture of grace like none other; we got to experience riches at the expense of someone else. Time was made for us because we were loved, and that feeling is more valuable than anything money can buy.

Here’s a bit of advice from a “busy” person who is quite weary of the the way the enemy uses busyness to rob God’s children of quality and depth of relationship with each other: do not let yourself arrive at a place later on in life plagued with regret for being too busy. Make time for God first, make time for your people second. If you make provision for these things, all else that you need will be added to you (Matthew 6:33, 22:36-40). Think of the way that an authentic desire from someone else to devote their time to you feels – it is one of the highest forms of love one can offer. You are in control of how you spend and prioritize your time, and your time is a currency richer than any dollar amount.

Nicholas John Graeve – thanks for always making time for me!

Jacob Tyler Overby – you’ve been quite the consistent and continual gift of quality time spent throughout the years. I miss spending every day in the office with you, man!

Scott Allen Winter Jr. – you’ve fought for time when I’ve grown distant, faithfully reminded me of who I am, and been an expression of God’s kindness through living out the BC; I love you bro!