In the course of a week, we have 168 hours to spend. This is a fixed amount that every person has. If you sleep eight hours a night, that's fifty-six hours a week. If you work full time, you spend at least 40 hours on the job. If you spend an hour for each meal, then you spend 21 hours per week eating. If you spend two hours a day cleaning, cooking and doing yard work, that's fourteen hours per week. If you spend an hour going to and from your job, then you use seven hours per week in your car. That leaves thirty hours per week of leisure time that you have in a given week to shower, shop, watch TV, attend church, read, play or study for next week's lesson!Albert Einstien, the great physicist who theorized that time was relative, tried to explain the theory of relativity with the following: "When you are courting a nice girl, an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity."
Your experience will tell you how much time you need to prepare for this week's lesson. Everyone needs different amounts of time to prepare. Experience can shorten the time needed. Anxiety can lengthen the time required.
Your expectations will tell you how much time you need. If you are a perfectionist, there is not enough time in the week to get it right. If you are a freer spirit, more in awe of whimsy than logic, you will have more than enough time to prepare your lesson in the car on the way to church Sunday morning.
Your results will tell you how much time you need in the future. Unfortunately, by the time you realize what you've done, it's too late. But the best way to measure results is one week at a time. Did the craft go too quickly? Was the lesson understood in half the time? Did the kids breeze through the questions? Should you have spent more time in the Bible exploration activity that had everyone laughing with excitement?
Your faith journey will tell you how much time you need. Don't overlook the fact that as you prepare to teach, and even when you're in the act of teaching, you will be changed! The teacher always learns more than the student. The time you spend on your lesson will add to the richness of what God is saying to you and through you. Allow enough time in your preparation for your personal growth.
Take a look at the lesson early in the week so you understand how much time your lesson planning will take. If you start the week with a strong understanding of your topic, you can look for connections and pick up extra supplies throughout the week. Last-minute planning limits your effectiveness. With a little froethought, preparing for your lessons can actually be an enjoyable and enriching time rather than a harried, panicked drain.
