Sometimes, I think that if we were able to take every single experience we have and compact them all into 10-30 second, bite-sized pieces, we would do it and feel a sense of accomplishment. Who has the attention-span, or even the desire to spend an extended amount of time doing anything?
Even our entertainment comes in flashes, and artists have to make everything compact and quick for fear of losing their audience. We can't even "not think" for a very long time before we become bored. This may not be the worst thing happening in our society, but it certainly cannot be a very good thing, can it?
Is it really that we don't 'have the time'? Or is it our understanding of the value of our activities that is lacking? It goes beyond a simple improvement in time-management to the truth about what value the things we are engaged in actually possess. If you have time, or if you want to take the time...Are you forced to be too busy, or do you make yourself too busy? If I'm honest with myself, I confess that I make myself too busy. And how many of the things I do are in my schedule for selfish reasons? Do they build me up, or do they build others and God up?
I don't want to make you feel bad if you struggle with ADD, or ADHD. I have spent blood, sweat, and tears (literally) in working with kids who cannot even look at me for more than a fraction of a second, or focus on a task for more than a minute or so. I have struggled with my own inadequacies in focus and discipline. Sometimes, we just have a full day, with work, kids, bills, emergencies, messes, the list goes on and on and on... I know life is demanding and difficult, but there are times in our lives when there is time: a few minutes, maybe even an hour or two, and I wonder if we took all of the time we do have to focus on one thing, instead of 10 little things.
All of this is intricately connected to how we come to know and understand our God. Our heavenly Father is big; no, I mean, REALLY BIG. His Words, His ways, His thoughts, His power, His existence; these things defy our minds to grasp them. We never actually will fully understand Him, even with an infinity to try, but I think we miss out even on shallow things of God in this life because we simply do not choose to make time to learn, to think, to meditate. We take life in little bitty pieces, and our Christian book stores are drowning in devotionals, and we think we can connect with almighty God in a 2-minute verse with 2 paragraphs of 'explanation'? Don't get me wrong; I know that God is mindful of the fact that we are confined to time and He isn't. He made us; He knows our limitations.
I'm not saying I've got this all figured out: just the opposite! I need to start to figure it out, and I think we could all at least start thinking about the value of our activities in light of eternity, and taking into consideration 'who' the activity is focused around.
Well, I've gone and rambled, and this post is probably too long. But I hope it gets the brain pistons firing!
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