Most people would look at this title and think I was nuts, off my rocker, or some other apt description for insanity. The words of inspiration and schedule are never to appear in the same sentence let alone in the title of an article. Yet, that is exactly what I have done. Why? Why do I think that these two seemingly diametric opposites actually enhance each other?

The first thing I need to communicate is that the schedule is not predominately what is written on a piece of paper or entered in an electronic format on a smart phone. Schedule is an internal reality which determine external accomplishments. My schedule through the day is the way I redeem time rather than the way I waste it or spend it.

This is something I have just recently come to see, and am still just scratching the surface to understand. All of us have the same 24 hours of chronological time each day. It is not about how many more seconds I can wrench from one activity to give to another. Instead, this idea of inspiration and schedule is about a different type of time influencing our chronological time. Kairos is a Greek word which is basically time of meaning. As each of us align our thoughts and plans with the meaning in our lives and reorient our chronological time to what makes for meaning then our chronological time is no longer drudgery.

The schedule I reference is one dealing first with the time of meaning and second with chronological time. As I sense what is important in my life…faith in God, my family, my health, my sense of call…what to do with my wrist watch time just kind of flows. I now no longer try to block out and schedule in every minute as a way to guard productivity. Instead, the schedule of Kairos time allows freedom in my chronological time.

I have discovered that to be up early for prayer, work out, scripture, writing and the like gives real meaning to my entire day. The other thing I have discovered is that I can get along well on 5 hours of sleep a night if I can get a 30 minute nap in the middle of the day.

So now I may be up at 3:30-4:00 am fully rested to start my day’s exercise and devotions before getting my kids up and moving and then hitting the rest of the chronological imperatives. How good it is to rethink the way I have understood time throughout my life. I no longer try bringing meaning to time (wrist watch time). I now find meaning (Kairos) in the midst of my wrist watch time.

Try rethinking your own schedule and the way you view time. Perhaps you too can discover inspiration in the midst of your schedule.

Blessings!