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My earliest memory of cleaning was standing on a chair and washing dishes for my mother. 

I think I was around 6 or 7 years of age. 

Cleaning was a way of life in my home, but not a dread.  My mother would make it fun.  We would do our cleaning and then she would always have a trip to town or something recreational for her and I to do when we finished.  As I became a teen then it was, “Once you get your chores done, then you can go out with friends, skating, to the movies or a ball game.” 

My mother taught me a work ethic.

Imagine my surprise one day when I came home to visit my parents.  Mama was doing laundry and I was going to help her fold clothes, but she was separating the clothes into piles on the bed.  I was very puzzled.  She then proceeded to pick up each pile and shove them in the drawers that they went in.  I was totally blown away. I asked my mother, “What are you doing?” She then explained that she had learned that time is valuable.  It took too much time to fold those items.  Not a single person was going to know they were not folded. The point was that they were clean.  She could now spend more time with me or do something else that she wanted to do, but she was not spending her time on something that did not really matter.  My mother was “on purpose” not wasting her time, but investing her time in what was important to her — me.

I heard a pastor recently talk about time.  What you choose to spend time on can unlock blessings for you today, and every day to come. The Word says, “Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).

Time management is important because of the length of our lives. Our time on earth is significantly shorter than we realize. King David states, “Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be… My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath. (Psalm 39:4-5). The apostle James echoes this: “You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14). Indeed, our time on earth is fleeting — in fact, it is enormously small compared to eternity. To live as God would have us live, it is essential we make the best possible use of our time. Be encouraged. It’s OK to make life adjustments to please God.

Yep, I stopped folding clothes. No one knows they were not folded.

Yvette Perrin is a columnist for The Charlotte Gazette. She can be reached at theword2yvette@gmail.com.