time
Our DSL modem gave up the ghost Friday morning, so while we wait our new model to arrive in the mail our household has reverted to the year 1996. Disastrous as this is in some respects--thank heavens I'd recently updated our Netflix queue, and I had to wait a WHOLE DAY before I could verify that Arsenal had indeed thumped Sunderland yesterday--I've observed a number of advantages.
First, as I did need to check my email sooner or later I am doing it while sitting in one of our congenial downtown coffee shops nursing a chai-with-a-shot.
Second, and much more importantly, I'm having to fill all those little chunks of time I generally spend clicking "get mail" or checking H-Net Jobs for the 18th time to see if it's updated yet doing other things. Almost all of these turn out to be more worthwhile, and over the course of the weekend I managed to sew the 5-year-old's Halloween witch dress (don't get too impressed... unfinished seams are actually advantageous for a witch costume the kid wants to be "raggedy"), make pear sauce, run a cumulative 8 miles, have some nice conversations with the husband, go to the library, go to church and help package Lutheran World Relief health kits for Community Sunday, grocery shop and attempt to pay attention to whatever the 5-year-old was trying to explain to me in excruciating detail at any one time.
This weekend has brought home to me something I know full well in an intellectual sense but generally have a great deal of trouble putting into practice, and this is that how we spend our minutes matters. I rationalize the 10 minutes here and 20 minutes there I spend wasting time as insignificant... but the 15 minutes I spent rolling balls around the living room floor with the chattering kid yesterday afternoon left her in a good mood for an hour afterward. While it's certainly true that we can become too engrossed in productivity, I do not think it's possible to become too engrossed in the pursuit of time well spent.
The other day I came across the passage in Mark that talks about the end of time, and the reality that nobody can know the day or the hour when this will come (I must refrain from citing chapter and verse given that I am in that coffee shop and don't have a Bible on hand). We do not know how much time we have. We cannot predict with certainty what the next day will bring. In fact, that uncertainty is one of the only things we can predict about life. Given that truth, shouldn't we be making the most of the time we have?
Even a beat-up old DSL box can teach a lesson to those who have eyes to see it. I hope mine have. And here's hoping that even when the new magical box arrives, I can retain what I've learned!
First, as I did need to check my email sooner or later I am doing it while sitting in one of our congenial downtown coffee shops nursing a chai-with-a-shot.
Second, and much more importantly, I'm having to fill all those little chunks of time I generally spend clicking "get mail" or checking H-Net Jobs for the 18th time to see if it's updated yet doing other things. Almost all of these turn out to be more worthwhile, and over the course of the weekend I managed to sew the 5-year-old's Halloween witch dress (don't get too impressed... unfinished seams are actually advantageous for a witch costume the kid wants to be "raggedy"), make pear sauce, run a cumulative 8 miles, have some nice conversations with the husband, go to the library, go to church and help package Lutheran World Relief health kits for Community Sunday, grocery shop and attempt to pay attention to whatever the 5-year-old was trying to explain to me in excruciating detail at any one time.
This weekend has brought home to me something I know full well in an intellectual sense but generally have a great deal of trouble putting into practice, and this is that how we spend our minutes matters. I rationalize the 10 minutes here and 20 minutes there I spend wasting time as insignificant... but the 15 minutes I spent rolling balls around the living room floor with the chattering kid yesterday afternoon left her in a good mood for an hour afterward. While it's certainly true that we can become too engrossed in productivity, I do not think it's possible to become too engrossed in the pursuit of time well spent.
The other day I came across the passage in Mark that talks about the end of time, and the reality that nobody can know the day or the hour when this will come (I must refrain from citing chapter and verse given that I am in that coffee shop and don't have a Bible on hand). We do not know how much time we have. We cannot predict with certainty what the next day will bring. In fact, that uncertainty is one of the only things we can predict about life. Given that truth, shouldn't we be making the most of the time we have?
Even a beat-up old DSL box can teach a lesson to those who have eyes to see it. I hope mine have. And here's hoping that even when the new magical box arrives, I can retain what I've learned!
It is scary how quickly we use our time up doing 'nothing' isn't it?! I discovered something similar when we moved house a couple of weeks earlier than the internet did! I found that the house stayed cleaner, the kids were entertained, the fridge kept well stocked, the Bible was open more, and I generally spent more time with God and the people that matter. Then - the internet came - and I am still working at finding the right balance!! Time is important - and does pass us by far too quickly. Must learn to stop wasting it and focus on making the most of it!
ReplyDelete:) Jo
Thanks for the reminder. So true. Just think, I found this while surfing during naptime - thanks for making it time well spent :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments! Now it's time for me to figure out whether I can follow my own advice... Internet came back on at home yesterday. :-)
ReplyDelete