God gives me the ability to balance my time between work, family and Him

Recently I have been flying more and more frequently due to the nature of my business and my job scope. In the month of September alone, I have been travelling on alternate weeks, spanning no less than 4 days each trip. In fact, I have to travel between countries and provinces during a week trip. To give you an idea: I can fly from Singapore to Taiwan on Monday, fly from Taiwan to Osaka on Tuesday, Take a Shinkansen (bullet train) from Osaka to Tokyo on Wednesday and take Shinkansen from Tokyo to Yokohama on Thursday. The travelling times are often long and I will be physically and mentally drained by the time I reach the hotel. Apart from the travelling, there were major projects and presentations to make during this period of time. This was coupled with other responsibilities and work that I have in church.

As a result, presentations and preparations have to be planned and organized carefully. Things have to be accomplished within very tight period of time and often during travelling times.

I want to do my best in all my responsibilities. However I refuse to fall back to the workaholic attitude and approach that I had adopted during the initial year of my work. There were times when I am tempted to stay longer at work or even work at night but I am learning not to give in. Sometimes I would tell my wife I have not completed something very important for the following day meeting but I would continue to lie on my bed to read my book. She would then start to nudge me to do my work instead but I would reply her I should be able to complete it the next day before the meeting and that this time is personal time. Actually there were times when I do feel a little jittery about my unfinished work but I just cast it aside.

It is not about being negligent about my work but being disciplined in balancing my life for work, family and God.

I have learnt my lesson not to be burnt out and more importantly to rely on God rather than my own strength. I am determined in my heart to spend my weekday nights and weekends with my family and I do my very best to complete what I need to accomplish during working hours.

Deuteronomy 8:18, “And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth …”

Proverbs 10:22, “The blessing of the LORD makes one rich, And He adds no sorrow with it.”

So God has been good to me. I would always pray to God for wisdom and creativity and I tell Him I want to accomplish this and that by a certain time. Most of the time there will be a certain calmness and steadiness in my heart each time I focus entirely on my work assignment and good ideas just come while the pressure of time presses on. The bible says,

James 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”

So far so good. However one thing I realized: I often find myself running to board my plane and almost always the last person to do so. The reason is: I was always clearing as much emails as possible at the airport lounge before that.

Steve