Reading books. Playing on the computer. Organizing more when it’s really already good enough. Picking up the house. Watching a movie. Doing laundry. Scrapbooking. Ironing. Sitting. Playing games.
These are all some ways I have wasted time. It’s really all a matter of perspective. What is work for one person can be labeled as wasting time for another. For example, there are days I realize how important laundry and ironing really are, but other days it feels like such a waste of my time. Reading seems fine until I realize everything else that needs to be accomplished and then I feel reading is wasting time.
Some of my favorite days with my husband are when we waste time together. We hang out, play games, do something fun, or work on a project together. Some people might think this is time wasted, but I love spending time with him just because it then becomes “our” time together: a moment shared. I might not learn more about him during those wasted moments, but I do realize he must love me to give me that time. With how valuable time is in our society, this is one of the greatest gifts he gives to me: his time. If I value this gift from him, I have to think to whom do I give the gift of my wasted time.
As a mother, I think it’s fair to say that my children get a large part of my time. That is why it is hard for me to give them my “wasted” or extra time. I long for time to myself, time to do exactly what I want to do, time to hear nothing, or time to turn the music up so loudly I can’t hear anything else. Time is precious to me. I try to do my devotions only to have my daughter tell me about the game she is playing. I get back to devotions and my son tells me his story of brushing his teeth. I don’t even look back down and my other daughter tells me something that happened at school. Is this part of their normal time I give them, or is this my time?
It’s a matter of perspective.
I am sitting there hanging out with God and striving to be a better person, wife, and mother, when I keep getting interrupted. But, it’s in the interruptions that God is answering my prayers. He’s bringing His children to me so I may know more about them and learn what’s going on in their heads. By hearing of their lives from their perspectives, God is enabling me to better care for them as a mother. So, within proper boundaries, of course, I’m learning to appreciate the interruptions caused by my children when I’m wasting time.
My wasted time becomes “our” time.
Likewise, I must continue to waste time with God. I need to strive to give Him what is most valuable to me. He is the Lord of my life and I must live every second of my life as if that were true. For me, this means giving my time to Him. This means accepting interruptions to my schedule and expectations. This means I might be wrong sometimes and will have to listen to Him and/or others for direction and leadership. This means sitting down and breathing deeply when I am dying to get up and do something. This means wasting time that I think is so valuable on Someone that I know and believe is so valuable.
It’s a matter of perspective.
© 2012 Susan M. Sims
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