Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.

William Penn

I know I’ve mentioned on here before, but I am terrible at managing my time. Worst of all, I struggle with adding on priorities to my plate that make it harder and harder to keep up with week after week – that’s on top of trying to get a decent amount of sleep each night! Not to mention that I also try to create and maintain a regular gaming life that helps me relax and unwind when the day is over and done with.

Still, as a single young adult, I have it luckier than many other people. I don’t have people who are dependent on me and hungry mouths to feed everyday. That doesn’t mean I don’t have daily responsibilities that I need to to take care of…we all do (and should) have obligations that need to come first before ourselves.

It should go without saying that gaming should not be the number one thing going for us in our lives. If you find that your gaming life supersedes other aspects of your life, it may be time to take a step back and see where your priorities really are.

It can be especially difficult for someone of faith who also wants – and needs – to make time to spend with God, both in prayer and in His Word.

As a Christian, it is the biggest responsibility that we have in our lives…yet we’re really bad about putting Him first. Is there a way to combat this problem?

I’ve heard people say they wake up an hour earlier, when the sun isn’t even risen yet, just to open up their Bibles early and spend some time in prayer. While this would be ideal, it wouldn’t take very long for me to cave into my desire to stay in my bed for the extra hour…after which I would need to get up anyway to go to work.

I sometimes regulate reading the Bible and a devotional either right before I leave for work or before I go to bed, but again, this doesn’t give me the time or opportunity for the words of Scripture to begin seeping into my soul.

I found myself beginning to implement little pieces of spiritual growth in my gaming when I can. It mostly comes in the form of listening to something constructive while I am actually playing the game. The monotony of grinding, leveling up, and exploring can be practically tedious and boring at times – I started by playing videos on YouTube I had missed watching during the work day, and this led into listening to podcasts and sermons. My mind is focused on the words being spoken and processing that information, while still keeping my eyes on the game and moving the story along.

It’s easier with games that have sparse dialogue or no dialogue at all – such as when I played a Final Fantasy game or Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life. Games with that are more heavy with dialogue and plot (like The Witcher 3 and Red Dead Redemption 2) are more challenging because I want to be focused on the character development that comes with heavy streams of conversation and events between characters.

I usually pause what I’m listening to in order to complete the cutscene and move on to the next objective, and while it’s doable, it does take me out of the experience a bit from both the game I’m playing as well as what I’m listening alongside with it.

Overall, though, I would say this practice has helped relax me even further than simply playing through the game on its own. If I’m able to play at least forty minutes to an hour while listening to something constructive on the side, I find myself feeling more relaxed and more at peace at the end my day than if I do not. If I’ve been listening to a sermon or something encouraging that points me towards Christ, then after I complete my time on the console, I have a few minutes to ruminate what was said and think about ways I could implement that information into my own life. I then transition to finishing my day by reading my Bible and devotional before heading off to sleep.

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Do you similar practices like I do while gaming? Do you alternate with other activities, or do you simply just play video games and focus only on that? Let me know in the comments below or on social media!

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I know that working on prioritizing my time will take a lot of patience, self-inspection, and possibly giving up some things sometimes. As much as I want to accomplish everything on my to-do list each day, I know that this won’t always be feasible. There will be days where I will have to pick and choose my battles of what I want to finish that day…and move other activities to complete another day. And I have to learn that that is completely okay!

With all that, I know my first priority should be to focus on my always-growing relationship with God. If anything else should take that focus away from me, then in the end, it doesn’t matter how much energy I devote to all of these other activities planned…it’s all for nothing.

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Colossians 3:17 (ESV)

When we put growing our relationship with God as our top priority, it’s very subtle, but it seems like everything seems to fall into its right place at the right time. We don’t have to work as hard, because God is there, alongside us on our journey, guiding our hands as we move and make our daily choices.

If you trust Him enough to place Him first over your life, then relax, take a step back, and watch Him at work. You will be amazed. You will also wonder why you waited so long and worked so hard, when you only had to to hand Him the reins to your life the entire time.