How much is time worth?

The saying is that time is money. The meaning there is that if you are wasting time, you are wasting money. The prime value is put on money, not time.

What if the opposite is true – that if you are spending too much time making money, you are wasting time?

Money can be replaced. Time cannot. Therefore, time has to be infinitely more valuable than money.

Money can be measured. You can tell exactly how much you have. With time you never know how much you have.

In the winter, my wife Margie and I play tennis indoors at a community center. Outside my serve does little other than serve up setups for her. The indoor court has a rubberized surface, though, and my spin serve bites that rubber and takes off at acute angles, leaving her flailing and railing. I love that scene. She doesn't.

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A couple of times we have been there on a day when the public schools are out. Those are not good days to be there. For example, we were on the court in the middle of a match, when some public school kids came in with their rackets, walked out on our court and began hitting. I have noticed that when my serve is more twisty, Margie gets more testy, and that day both were happening, so when those kids came out on the court in the middle of our twisty, testy match –

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Well, my dearly beloved was not impressed.

"Such total lack of consideration and respect! Unbelievable!" I quite agreed with that, and I wasn't even feeling testy, because I was winning.

On the other hand, our family has provided activities for Christian homeschool older teens and grads for over five years now. These are vigorous activities, such as basketball and volleyball. The energetic young folks really get into it, and anytime people play physical games with gusto there is the potential for them to get carried away and be rude. In all those years with the Christian homeschoolers, we have never had one ugly incident. Through the years the kids change, but the attitude stays the same – respect, courtesy and helpfulness.

What makes such a big difference in the attitude of public school kids and Christian homeschoolers?

Time with parents.

So many things in this society are configured to keep parents from spending time with their children. Parents are often overworked and don't have a lot of time to share. On the kids' side, public schools consume more and more time. Then there are after-school activities, part-time jobs, TV and movies, hanging out with friends and Internet social sites. Even when parents and children are together, as in a car, that time may be robbed by a cell phone, a handheld game or an iPod.

Christian homeschool parents realize the value of time over money and choose to give their children more time at the cost of having more money. Boy, does it show. I have never seen Margie testy during one of our Homeschool Helpers Contra Dances or Monday Night Things.

Carry that principle, then, one step higher.

In the book "The Jubilee Principle," we made a detailed study of how God set up Israel when He brought them into the Holy Land. He gave them Sabbaths, festivals, land sabbaths (a year off from work) and Jubilee years (another year off from work!). Every time I focus on that I am stunned. I am just amazed that God wants His people to spend so much time with Him.

But wait – why should we be surprised at that? What else would you expect from a loving Father?

I, a Christian homeschool dad, have been there. I taught all five of our kids to read, when they were 2 years old. Day after day, week after week, year after year, taking that time to sit and read about Peter and Jane, teaching them to read before they had even learned to talk well. When they were 18, all five, each with varying individual abilities, tested near the top in language. That's what parent time does. And all these Christian homeschool kids, so respectful and courteous and downright fun to be with, are that way because their parents have taken the time to teach them to be that way.

In your life, there is nothing more valuable than your time. God wants you to spend a lot of that with Him. What else would you expect from a loving Father?

Dan L. White is the author of "The Jubilee Principle: God's Plan for Your Economic Freedom." The book is also available in e-book form.