Wouldn’t you agree that time is one of our most precious gifts? We can generate energy, but we cannot create time. We can choose to use our time in different ways, but we all have 24 hours in a day, seven days in a week and 365 days in a year.
As we approach the end of 2025, what might leaders discover by examining how we spent our time? In Mark 13:33, Jesus urged the disciples to be wise in how they lived because the arrival of the Son of Man was going to happen on God’s time: “Beware, keep alert, for you do not know when the time will come” (NRSVUE). When we sense Jesus’ urgency, we begin to grasp the significance of stewarding time in our daily lives.
If we reviewed our calendar from January to today, what story would emerge? What appointments did we make? Who made appointments with us? What did we read? Where did we go? When did we rest — and for how long? The challenge for many of us is that we may not actually use our time the way we perceive that we do.
As leaders, our relationship with time models something profound for our communities. The liturgical calendar itself offers wisdom here. Advent asks us to wait, to watch, to prepare. It refuses to let us sprint from one season to the next without pause. In this way, the church’s ancient rhythms push back against our culture’s relentless pace, reminding us that kingdom time operates differently than clock time.
During this season, give yourself a gift by asking how you might steward time differently in the year ahead — not necessarily to do more, but to be more present to the God who meets us in every moment.
Resources
Joy and play are defiant ‘acts of dignity’
Celebration and imagination fuel resilient, faithful leadership, writes a director of programs and grants for Leadership Education at Duke Divinity.
By Elizabeth Tamez Méndez
Coffee hour and the beauty of lingering with one another
Instead of being driven by efficiency and urgency, what if we slowed down and made space for transformation? writes a PCUSA minister.
By Mihee Kim-Kort
Advent feels as if it were made just for me
The season of longing encompasses both the joy and the pain of our very human desire for God, writes an author.
By Jean Neely
Allowing Advent to find us honestly
We can reframe the Advent season in order to reclaim it, writes an author and academic.
By Shannon W. Dycus
Before you go
In 2016, Spotify introduced a marketing campaign now known as “Spotify Wrapped.” During the first week of December, Spotify sends each of its users a profile of their listening habits for the year, highlighting the artists, genres and songs a user listened to most frequently.
As I drove my daughter home from high school one day, she told me that she was so embarrassed by her Spotify Wrapped. Early in the year, she spent a lot of time listening to music she now feels is less mature as her tastes have evolved and expanded. I encouraged her not to judge herself but to take the information and decide what story she wanted to tell in the future.
I also couldn’t help but think what would happen if my calendar automatically categorized my leadership activities for the year. “Leadership Wrapped”? Let’s think about that and be as intentional with our time as we can.
You can always reach me and the Alban Weekly team at alban@duke.edu. Until next week, keep leading!
Prince R. Rivers
Editor, Alban at Duke Divinity
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