by Tari Faris, @FarisTari

It is a new year! And with the start of every year, I end up with a list of hopes and dreams for the coming twelve months. List of books I want to write, lists of places I want to go, lists of ways I will strive to be healthier. I wouldn’t call them resolutions but more like the plan for the year. 

However, this year, as I began laying out my ideas for the future, one word kept coming to mind. “TIME” Not like trying to find the time, nor even like is there enough time to get it all done. More of, I have been given a gift called “time” so what will I do with it?

I am a planner. I love to make plans, color code them, post them, make them beautiful . . .  then ignore them. Okay, that isn’t my goal when I create them but it’s usually the end result. I tend to go where the wind blows and sometimes that can lead to inspiration. (Some of my favorite books were started on a whim) However, more often, the whim turns to distraction – aka, wasting time.

As God often does, the theme of the Sunday service seemed to line up with what he’d been challenging me. Two elderly former pastors of mine each shared about the time that they have had, and what people investing time into them had meant. Although I don’t remember them when they were young, I do remember them when they were roughly my age. Somehow fifty looked a lot different thirty-five years ago than it does from where I am now.

As I listened to their testimonies, I found myself breathing the silent prayer, “Lord, give me as much of a fruitful year as them.” And it seemed His answer came back as clear as day, “If I did, what would you do with it?”

I would love to have been able to respond with amazing answers, but the truth is I spent over 42 hours in the month of December on my phone between Facebook and Instagram. I got caught up in a game and in one week spent twelve hours on it. Not all at once but twelve hours like that – gone. The only thing to show for it was a higher level no one will see but me. There are positives to social media and there is nothing wrong with an occasional game. But do I want that to be how I share my gift?

My gift of time.

Last year I lost a cousin who was my age to a massive heart attack. On Christmas day I got word of another person I grew up with who had passed.

Time is not a guarantee, but a gift. What am I doing with that gift?

As one who loves to plan, I started a Bible study plan on the YouVersion app called “Divine Time Management.” As I read the first day I was struck with the reminder:

“Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand in vain.”

Psalms 127:1

Unless God is a part of my planning, my charts are worthless. Unless I let God direct my minutes, my hours become wasted.

Reaching 2023 is not guaranteed for any of us. Time is a gift. Every minute a gift. And I don’t know about you but I want to use every minute I can of 2022 to be faithful to the call he has given me. The call to be a writer, the call to be a mother, the call to be a wife, the call to be a friend. 

How will you use your gift of time this year?

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Since You’ve Been Gone

Leah Williams is back in the quaint town of Heritage, Michigan, and ready to try again to make her business a success. But blank slates are hard to come by, and a piece of her past is waiting for her there. Heir to the Heritage Fruits company, Jonathan Kensington is the guy who not only made Leah’s past difficult, he also seems determined to complicate her present as well.

Jon is trying to prove to the Heritage Fruits board that he, not his manipulative uncle, should be running the business. The board insists Jon find a new owner for the building that will house Leah’s business. To avoid forcing a buyout of Leah’s part of the building, Jon strikes a compromise with Leah, and the two go into business together. With her vision and his know-how, it might work. And Leah might realize he’s loved her since high school. If only he didn’t keep on shooting himself in the foot by boxing her out of important decisions.

Sparks fly in this romantic story of two people who must learn to trust both each other and the one who called them to this journey.

Available now for preorder! And visit linktr.ee/tarifaris to sign up for preorder rewards!

Tari Faris has been writing fiction for fifteen years but has been creating fiction in her head as long as she can remember. She is represented by Wendy Lawton at Books & Such Literary Management and is a member of ACFW and My Book Therapy. She was the 2017 Genesis winner, 2016 Genesis finalist, and 2014 Genesis finalist. In addition to her writing, she also works for My Book Therapy as a special project manager and writes for LearnHowToWriteANovel.com . When she is not writing or working, she spends time with her amazing husband and kids. In her free time, she loves coffee, rockhounding with her husband and kids, and distracting herself from housework. You can connect with her at www.tarifaris.com