Maybe you’re like me and you have struggled with how to use the enormous amount of time suddenly available because of the Wuhan Coronavirus. 

I know I have.

There’s only so much binge-watching, Facebook meme reading, and walks in the park one can do before the enormity of time thrust upon us gives one pause to consider if there is a catharsis in this moment of crisis.

With a huge amount of time spent reading news in the hopes that crisis mode would abate to something normal or at least calmer, we read on Facebook yesterday the advisory to be socially distant turned into a stay at home order for most of the country. Ahh! Will this ever end?

Yes, I know it will end. I’m sure the light at the end of this tunnel is simply farther away than I first thought, but Ahh nonetheless. What do we do with all the time we have now?

Here are some tips I learned to redeem the time. Time is something we will never get back. Whether we are home watching the task force updates, at work socially distant yet trying to accomplish something, or stuck somewhere out there waiting for this thing out, there are some things that are a little deeper than liking all the Facebook memes you are flicking through every day or binge-watching Picard that we can be doing with our time.

1. the greatest opportunity the virus has given is our time back into our control.

For the first time in long time, time is now back under our control. No school schedule. No bus to catch. No uniforms. No calculating driving time, rush hour, and the shortest route to leave the house at the last minute and still get the kids to school on time. Telework, virtual meetings (see spike in top sales) are becoming the norm. At the least, the current norm. We now manage our own time.

2. A refocus on what is important

Have you noticed how unimportant stardom is? Hollywood? Billionaires? Gone the incessant, near rabid, news cycles of paparazzi fueled star gazing. Here the acknowledging of the heartbeats that keep America moving. Doctors, nurses, janitors, truck drivers, grocery clerks, pharmacists, firefighters, first responders, and police, etc. When it seemed there would be no plight and “peace, peace” was everywhere, no one thought of the people who keep America’s ticker going . We now have time to say thank you to those who do something very real, and that someone might probably be you, instead of star chasing.

3. It’s up to us to structure our time

As a dad, I went from being the articulate highly degreed kid chauffeur who saw my kids mostly at breakfast, dinner, and in the mirror to a dad at home who has to lead this microcosm of society 24/7 direct. The difference between these two dads? External versus internal structure. Sports, school, concerts, practices, and church provided structure to a week. People with specialized skills aided in forming my two beautiful nuggets of joy into adults. Now, it is up to me and my wife to structure our time. We started online school this week and that helps provide some structure, but the majority of our time is mostly up to us to wisely construct in something meaningful.

4. Go sustainable

Now that running all day and eventually relenting to eating out is mostly a thing of the recent past, rethinking how to live at home has brought back some practical living ideas that are sustainable. Cooking with the basics has come back as our way of life. Dinnerware, utensils, pots, and pans can be dish-washed and disinfected. Even baking at home is less Cake Boss and more Julia Childs. Like your grandfather’s couch passed down to you that sits in your man cave, more of us will go back to the practical parts of sustainable living.

5. Go Local

We are blessed to live a ten-minute walk from our local grocery store. We have another one a 20-minute walk away and two others a 30-minute walk from us. We have the usual shortages of this time, but we are not lacking access by any stretch. We walk to the store and purchase what we need for a few days rather than drive to Costco to wait in long lines or see people fight over toilet paper.

Another side benefit is we drive far less. Less wear and tear on the car. Less gas. I filled up twice in the last two weeks. Yeah, for my wallet. Pollution across the world is at an all-time low. I am doing my part to go local.

6. Rekindle the relationship

I am going for a rekindling of the relationships that matter most. Repenting of the past and reforming relationships in order to be right with God is always an appropriate thing to do. Hard as it may seem, repenting is not repenting unless it leads to actual changes in behavior. Reforming a relationship is akin to breaking pottery, Romans 9:19-21. The process might be difficult, the outcome from the other side not assuredly favorable, but the time will be well spent and we’ll will be better for it.

7. Neighbors talking to neighbors

What a great time to rekindle our love for family and neighbors. A terrible reason for the extra time, but a great opportunity to shine your light! We are a city on a hill and a lamp on a high post, Matthew 5:14. I know a few of my neighbors and we have talked more in these past two weeks, even 6 ft socially distant, than since we moved in 5 years ago. Yes, 5 long years! Maybe it is is time to get know our neighbor and let them know how our fears are calmed in the eye of this storm.

I don’t know if the end will come sooner or later to the virus scare. I do know that my time is precious and I will answer for how it was spent, Eccl 12:14. While we all do our part to keep healthy and pray for those around us, let’s also remember to redeem the time.