Book Review: The Power of a Half Hour
The Bible warns us in Eph. 5:16 to be ‘wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.’ But living in this ‘privileged’ age of technology, spending time meaningfully is becoming more and more difficult.
Almost all our spare time is eaten up by our favorite TV shows, facebook updates, pintrest goodies, and video games. Even during personal encounters, people are spending much of the visit sporadically checking their smart-phones.
Because I spend much of my workday on the computer, managing my time wisely and resisting these distractions is becoming more and more challenging.
That’s why I was drawn to Tommy Barnett’s book ‘The Power of a Half Hour.’
Though the primary focus of the book is time management, I felt like it all boiled down to priorities.
They say you can tell where a person’s heart is by looking at where they spend their money, and with online tools it’s easy enough to track purchases now a days. But what if we could track our spent time as easily as we track our expenses? What would our spent time tell others about where our hearts are?
One of my favorite lines from the book was “Time is the most significant nonrenewable resource at our disposal.” There is such truth in that, but it’s so hard to see in everyday life.
Pastor Barnett really uses his book to drive home the point that every minute counts, even the little half hours of free time that seem like such perfect slots for those facebook updates.
He goes through several important areas of life where time can be mismanaged and gives thoughtful, practical advice for redeeming the days, thirty minutes at a time.
There are helpful tips on how to deepen your relationship with God, build your character, strengthen your faith, improve your relationships, etc. And the book is chock-full of great stories and testimonies’ from Pastor Barnett’s life as well as the lives of his friends.
As I read the book, it made me feel very uncomfortable more than once. And I mean that in the best way possible! I felt the Holy Spirit nudge me over and over as Pastor Barnett outlined many ways we can use our time to love on others, glorify God, and invest in eternity.
I’m very tired of reaching the end of my day and knowing that, once again, I left no impact. I didn’t strike up a conversation with the cashier at Wal-mart to make sure she was having a good day. I didn’t bring my neighbor cookies and invite her to church. And I didn’t spend a half hour in prayer, talking to the Lover of my Soul.
With His help, the end of today will be different.
If you have the opportunity to read this book, I highly recommend that you do so. I promise it won’t be a waste of time!
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free through Blogging for Books. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commision’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
