The Tithe(s)

I started tithing when I became a school teacher. Still living at home, no car payments, and having a steady income made tithing pretty easy to do. Each month I faithfully wrote my check, placed it in the offering bucket, and felt good about it. I always had enough money to take care of my bills and plenty left over for whatever I wanted after that. Tithing became part of my normal routine even when I bought a house and car. I knew that money was set aside because it was really God's money and not mine. This year I even switched over to autodraft so it goes straight from my checking account. Everything was great until God rocked my boat...

I was watching a Joyce Meyer episode on being busy. She talked about people being too busy to spend time with God. Over the Christmas break, He started whispering to me, "Why are you so good at tithing money, but lousy at tithing time?" Ouch. I had never really thought about it before. I've heard preachers talk about spending time with God in the morning. It's better, it's more biblical and yada yada. Well that sounds wonderful except for the fact that I am NOT a morning person. I barely talk to people until I've been awake for at least an hour, usually 2 hours. When my alarm clock goes off in the morning, I hit the snooze button and talk to God during those waking moments until the snooze alarms sounds. That's about as good as it's gonna get for the mornings.

After school is when I sit down and do a devo or read my Bible. However, the after school thing is inconsistent. Sometimes, I'm tired and just want to nap. Or I have work, finances, chores, or errands to do. Other times, I'd honestly rather do something else like play guitar, watch TV, or read fabuloso blogs. It's not that those things are bad. But they seem to be crowding out my TAG (Time Alone with God). We make time for the things that are most important to us. I say that I want to be like Paul in Philippians 3:7-11. But do my actions back it up? If someone looked at the itinerary of my life, would they know that Christ is at the center?

Lately, God has been calling me to tithe my time. "Don't try to fit me in your schedule. Why don't you make your TAG a priority, and fix your schedule around it?" Umm, ok God. You're right. Wait...you're always right.