sacrilege
It's scholarship season, which means that for a second year I've had the honor of helping review the applications for a memorial scholarship dedicated to the memory of a beautiful boy. I took some time to attend to that this morning, then returned to my more common (and destructive) pastime of procrastination and deviation from whatever it is that I really should be doing.
I just went to put a load of laundry in the washer when the thought hit me squarely between the eyes: what right do I have to waste ANY of my time? I can't know the day or the hour, as the passage goes, but I do know I have the opportunity to live today. I have been given this gift. It is a sacrilege -- and yes, I looked that word up to ensure I am conveying the meaning I intend -- to waste it. I actively violate this gift when I do so. That's not just unfortunate; that's sinful. Sin may be forgiven, but that doesn't make it right to keep on sinning.
Live life. Please, Lord, help me -- help us all -- do so. Amen.
I just went to put a load of laundry in the washer when the thought hit me squarely between the eyes: what right do I have to waste ANY of my time? I can't know the day or the hour, as the passage goes, but I do know I have the opportunity to live today. I have been given this gift. It is a sacrilege -- and yes, I looked that word up to ensure I am conveying the meaning I intend -- to waste it. I actively violate this gift when I do so. That's not just unfortunate; that's sinful. Sin may be forgiven, but that doesn't make it right to keep on sinning.
Live life. Please, Lord, help me -- help us all -- do so. Amen.
Don't forget that sometimes part of "living" is to let ourselves get lost for a little while in something that seems like a trivial "waste", but might just be the thing we need at the moment. A life well lived doesn't have to mean constant occupation.
ReplyDeleteThis is true. I'm not sure I'm accomplishing anything in particular when I'm reading a novel, for example, but that doesn't seem like time-wasting. I read a piece on discernment once that encouraged reflection at the end of the day along the lines of: What filled me up? What dragged me down? The idea is that the things which drag us down are things to which we likely aren't called and/or are areas where we're wasting our time and our potential. I don't do it as often as I should but it's a useful exercise.
ReplyDeleteI like that. I think of "things that drag me down" as including irrational worries (maybe even rational ones), gossip and other hateful things, etc. Now those things are all certainly a waste of time. But playing a little word welder on my iphone? How is that any more waste than reading a novel? :P
ReplyDeleteI feel much the same way about "Scramble with Friends." ;-)
ReplyDelete