Week 1 Day 1: Time
Question: What is your relationship to time?
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Transcript of Video:
The gift of time is one of God’s greatest gifts to us. The Book of Genesis describes how God created the heavens and the earth and this beautiful world in which we inhabit. It then goes on to say that on the seventh day God rested, and it’s the seventh day that God called holy. Now you might think that the first thing that God calls holy might be perhaps a holy mountain or a holy lake. But no, the first thing God calls holy is time. Time is a precious holy gift.
Well, these days I think we know only too well how we have sadly damaged and polluted the gift of God’s Creation. And I think we’re perhaps less aware of how much we have also damaged and, one could say, polluted the gift of time. For many of us, time is experienced no longer as a precious gift, but almost like an enemy. We haven’t got enough time. “I can never get everything done that I want to do. Oh, if only I could have more time.” Or on the other hand we waste time and we fritter it away and kill time. All of these things I think – which bear witness to a sense of disorderedness, a disordered relationship with this precious gift.
So how might we redeem time? I hope that over this series we can together explore ways in which, in our own personal lives, we can reorder that gift in our own lives. We can perhaps ask the question: how I might reorder time in my own life, so that my life can begin to be more abundant and that in my life I may use the gift of time in such a way as to be much happier and to glorify God? Perhaps we can ask that question in the words which I love, the beautiful words from the poet Mary Oliver: “What is it that you plan to do with this one wild and precious life?”
– Br. Geoffrey Tristram
I think I feel like it has become an enemy, something to do battle with instead of it being a gift. But I am excited on this January 1st 2021 to explore how I can create a new relationship with time and how I can be more intentional about using it to glorify God.
Time for me is a circle – the calendar, the days of the week, hours of the day. I used to love the familiar, cyclical rhythm. I’m a morning person who used to rum like the Enegizer Bunny until evening. But as I’ve gotten older – work (job & church) seems to be harder, patience shorter, days & nights fleeting – time seems more like a treadmill. I yearn for the time – to sew, create, pray- but all I do is zone out with any free moments I get. Then it’s gone & I’m starting over again. May all these years I just took time for granted. I want to value God’s gift again.
I just retired. Time is very different for me now. There are no “have-tos” anymore. I spend my time how I like and give it away when I choose. That said, I find a need to create new routines to ensure I nourish myself in the broadest sense. I have made time to do things I love just about every day. That is very gratifying. The one thing that is difficult is that, as a single man, I spend most of the time on my own. There is a loneliness that comes when I just want someone else to be there. On other occasions, I relish my alone-time. It’s a strange dichotomy. I do find myself much more present in the moment and in God’s presence too. We don’t talk much just take time together or [I] recognize that we are with each other as things pass throughout the day.
We all have the same amount of time in a given day, so I’ve never felt I couldn’t get everything done. Maybe that’s because I worked 60-80 hours a week on past jobs. But, since quitting, I have tons of “time”. The area I can improve upon is using time to “glorify God”, as you indicated in the video. And, that will require some thought, prayer, and God’s guidance.
My relationship to time has been adversarial. I spend a lot of time escaping the pain I feel especially around my mental illness and mistakes I have made or continue to make. Admittedly much of the time spent working, and media consumption. I also spend a lot of time in the planning of time which is a great recipe for getting nothing done.
Time is precious and I sometimes waste it by overplanning and overcommitting, then worrying about how to get it all done. I know that making time for my spiritual life a priority first thing every day and by seeking guidance throughout the day, that life flows in an easier way, even in the midst of the unexpected. I certainly don’t do it perfectly but I am a work in progress.
Just finding the time to watch the video was a challenge for me. I don’t think it’s time itself that I struggle with, as it is time management. I need to respect time more and use it wisely, rather than waste time on things that don’t give me joy or pay the bills.
As I grow older my relationship to time is to find ways to worship and study to become closer to God and Jesus.?
I have always had an adversarial relationship with time. Always trying to get one more thing done. Always running just a few minutes late. As an elementary school teacher, my eyes are always on the clock. How can I fit everything into 6 1/2 hours with my students? Our schedule drives me to push constantly throughout the day. That is why it is so important for me to spend time at the beginning of each day in silence with God, reading the brothers’ sermons, and reflecting on the day ahead. Likewise, at the end of the day I need/try to allow time to slow down so I can rest and reflect and give thanks or ask for help with what has transpired that day. It is a constant ebb and flow between tension and release for me. The question, I guess, is “How can I befriend Time?”
Time and I have a love – hate relationship. Undiagnosed as a child and young adult, I have struggled with ADHD all my life. Sometimes it can be a gift because I will lose track of time and become wrapped up in someone’s conversation whatever the concern of the moment is – joyful or sorrowful. Also – and this is quite unattractive – I am almost ALWAYS late! I never leave myself enough time to do the things I feel I need to do. I would like to learn to reorder this priority of time. Put it first, not last. Thank you for this series. I am looking forward to it.
My relationship to time varies according to the time of life I’m in, the seasons, my mood and how much I have to accomplish. I do not regard time as an enemy, but neither do I, have I, seen it as a gift from God; I can see that it is though. On the seventh day God rested and He made us to be people of rest. We are a sabbeth people as Christians. I could surmise that since God rested on the seventh day, not being inert, but caring still for all He had created,that we live within the confines of the seventh day, every day. A a result we need to live our lives accordingly. We too need to be at rest in our lives, abiding in God, even when we are keeping our lives, alive to God through prayer and ministry. Also I think it is important to bide in time so that it is possible to live all facets of life. I would say that I personally have a good relationship to time, but that I can still improve it. I hope this Lenten series will help me to fit in and have discipline in the things which I need to do: devotional, drawing, practicing music, writing, doing pastel portraits, and learning about and writing icons. Also, importantly to play as well and to rest. Most of these occupations I don’t need to be rigid about-time is elastic, and so should I be. I don’t have to do everything, every day, that leads to burn out due to forgetting that I live a sabbeth life.
I feel about time precisely the way you described – there isn’t enough. I’m always running out of it. I think part of that is due to an abundance of a feeling of responsibility. I am responsible for doing these things, I can’t just drop them to do the other things I want or feel called to do. I am working on shifting things around, asking others for help to do what needs doing, saying no.
In cosmology and simply speaking, time can be seen as the fourth dimension of space. It is fundamental in positioning me in God’s Creation. As such it is a precious commodity to be savoured throught my life. Stopping, reflecting, choosing pathways forward based on the moral codes embedded in the Lord’s Prayer and the Serenity Prayer are all part of such savouring.
I often feel that I am running out of time.
The secret is to hold on to each day as long as you can because every moment is a gift and there is so much to enjoy. I am 82 years old and I guess you have to be old to really appreciate every given day.
I thank God for every day that is given to me.
As a new father of 2 young boys (23 months and 3 months old) my relationship with time has changed dramatically. When I’m not at work, every moment I have is used to spend time with my precious family. With that being said, I sometimes feel a void in my life as I do not set time aside for myself. I hope to find a balance so that my family knows I am always there for them, but also find time to clear my head and reflect on my time on this earth.
My time is not being used effectively. I see myself wasting some of it, ironically I can fill it with many things to do, none of which are prioritized. I can write them down, prioritize them and still not do them effectively. I lack discipline.
My relationship to time is non existent. I mean, I feel I don’t have enough it. Slowly but surely I am learning to slow down and catch up with time and actually enjoy it’s presence.
I really want/need to get my time in order and perhaps everything else will fall into place. I have too many things to do and not enough time which makes me crazy. Perhaps these exercises along with a lot of Grace will do it! T h anks! P.S. I am already behind in these exercises but am deteremined to do them all and catch up. PRay!
Time is something I always seem to be able to squeeze more out of. It’s weird, but I find empty time very hard to cope with. Consequently, when there’s a gap in time, I fill it. I fill it with volunteer jobs, trips to the library to listen to a lecture, trips to the Royal Ontario Museum, church events, etc.
To relax and take that much-needed time to pause, think, and pray, I do that on buses. I do that looking at examples of God’s creation – trees, plants, animals, birds, snow – yes, even that can be beautiful if it’s thought of in the context of God’s creation.
I find time at night or in an evening when I get home, to pause and reflect too. Rather than turning on the radio or a TV, I think.
I go full out each and every day.. participate in tons of things… and yet I always find time to get everything done, including praying. Maybe I’m just lucky.
I am always worrying about having enough time to do the things that I need to do like work, cleaning house, daily demands. At the same time, I resent the fact that I don’t always have time to do the things I would really like to do. In the end I often end up wasting time because I am resentful. Then I feel guilty! Ugh! It is a precious gift from God and I need to learn how to accept and treat this gift. This video makes me think about Godly Play that we do with children. We put the parable stories in golden boxes to demonstrate to the children how precious and important the gift of the parables are. Now, I think I need to think of the 24 hours of the day as coming to me wrapped in gold each morning.
I too experience time in conflict – there is never enough “time” to be “holy.” Yet I always find time to watch TV, a movie, or fritter away. I am retiring soon and I am afraid that I will “waste” my time!
In response to the question, “What can I do for you?”, the response is often: “All I have got is time.”. Such a reponse makes it appear that the important things one could do for someone entails money, goods, etc. and that “time” equals “nothing”. Whereas “time” is the most precious commodity that we have, that we can give. I thank Brother Geoffrey for this meditation reminding how precious “time”, a part of God’s gift of creation, is. Peace!
My relationship with time is of conflict. I don’t do the things I want to do and I end up doing the things I don’t want to do. Sounds familiar? I see time as my worst enemy most of the time and this complain does not allow me to enjoy it.
Just thinking of time as a true gift from our creator has given me pause to reflect and listen. I’ve always thought of time as something I could always use more of, but why? Would I truly make the best of it, or just fritter it away? I like these reflections because it helps me re-think time as not a void that needs to be filled, but a kind of presence that I need to recognize and respect. Like so many gifts God has given, me, understanding it takes–no, not time–but reflection, a willingness to listen, and patience.
As one can see, I am a bit “late” with time – always needing to “catch up.” …sigh
I am able to focus and complete a task when it has to be accomplished by a particular date and time. Without that structure my tendency is to feel that everything has to be done right now and, knowing that is not possible, I do nothing until such time as the structure comes into place. (Many people call this the deadline – a word that I avoid whenever possible!) Other tasks that have no imposed structure on them for completion often get started in a frenzy of excitement and are rarely finished to my satisfaction.
Within a structure, I have an ability to “stretch time”! I recognize that time as a construct is something we humans have imposed on ourselves.
We get along nicely. Now that I am retired, time generally reminds me of an upcoming event or anniversary, but only very rarely constrains me to when I “need” to do something.
To quote a response Maggie Smith gave to a dinner guest regarding his upcoming busy weekend on the PBS series, Downton Abbey, she asked in bewilderment, “What is a weekend?”
I’m retired, and I have even more important tasks on my list now than I did during my “working days” because they are more self-determined. Does that make me any better at the disciplines of using precious time? Nope. It’s a problem area.
My time is now. My life is simply being in this now. “God will fulfill God’s purpose for my life” Ps. 138:8. This moment then is part of God’s fulfillment, no matter what I am doing with it. God redeems that which might otherwise be self destructive by helping me accept the fact of it–it’s gone, it is/was what it was. How shall I learn from it? What was its gift? One of the ways God brings sanity to my life is by helping me see God in each person I meet, including the one in the mirror. That Presence raises my spirits and gives meaning to my time, my now, my life. I trust the grace of forgiveness, the depth of the moment, and hope in God’s gift of my space in time.
Secular time can be tyrannical, especially when there are professional demands to meet billable hours and client expectations. This is particularly true for the young professional who is all to often judged by time spent and dollars collected. After 49 years in my profession, I am intentional about setting aside a portion of each day for God and his time. Those precious moments allow me to focus on the daily liturgy, religious reading, meditations, and listening to the “still voice of calm.” Making time for those precious moments requires discipline. But, when practiced faithfully, this time becomes my daily Sabbath; it is a time of joy and sometimes laughter!
I am a long way from finding the right balance between secular demands and time to allow the Holy Spirit to give me the strength to face the challenges of the day and to enter more fully into those relationships which are truly important in my life after a stressful day. I suspect this is part of a life-long journey in which growth may be met by setbacks and pain.
Your meditations have been very helpful.
My life and my work revolve around time. My job involves tracking my time and billing it to clients, and so in some ways I have an extraordinary sense of how valuable my time is. Sometimes this allows me to cast off tasks or make choices that someone else could do. At the same time, I feel like I never have enough time, and constantly over schedule my time. I watch time slip through my fingers on some days, and on rare days I am able to savor precious moments. Time and I are often at odds or in battle. I want to resolve my fight with time because in the end I do not want to feel that I wasted it, or leave wanting more time.
Unfortunately, it often feels like time and I are adversaries in a perpetual battle. But that’s not the relationship I want to have with it. Prayerfully, over these next several weeks, we will become friends. And if not fast friends, at least pleasant acquaintances. Time is a precious and priceless gift — and I want to make sure that I’m investing mine wisely and for the glory of God.
I have always had a very unhealthy relationship with time so I am finding these reflections to be very helpful in trying to change this. Time has always been a scarce commodity, a tyrannical factor in my life. Too often I feel the scarcity of time and the anxiety and pressure of never feeling I have enough time. There is also a sense of time being a precious commodity, not to be wasted, which extends to feeling guilty when I use time for frivolous or fun things. As i age, I find the increasingly rapid passage of time to be most disturbing. I remember vividly whatever birthday caused me to realize that I had more time behind me than ahead of me…a startling revelation! Having said all of this, I hope to develop a healthier, more balanced relationship with time in doing this spiritual work.
I used to feel extremely anxious about time; that was when I worked full time and raised my 3 daughters as a single parent. I would get so anxious that I would get depressed for weeks at a time and this hampered my ability to function. That was 25 yrs. ago. My relationship to time has changed 180 degrees since. I am very relaxed now and feel that time is my friend.
Over the last year the relationship has changed; I retired five years ago, and while fully occupied, I have finally begun to recognize that time passes at its own pace. Not all my anxiety and hurry alters that pace one whit, nor does it alter the final outcome of whatever action I’m engaged in. I no longer have to cope with other people’s deadlines, by and large, and that’s a great freedom.
I am in my sixties, happily retired but am so conscious of the rapid passage of time. My adult sons are in happy dating relationships but not yet married. Most of my friends have grandchildren, something for which I long and hope I don’t run out of time to experience. I know I must accept time’s passage without qualifications and give thanks for every healthy day I experience.
Time certainly is elastic, mercurial, subjective. Like so many others, I have a frustrating relationship with time. But when using intentionally, by having a plan for the day, (not just a to do list to accomplish practical things) that includes recognizing before I get out of bed that ” this is the Day that the Lord has made”, then no day is a waste. I realize that I can hurry incessantly, but the universe still is in charge. So, if I accomplish nothing for all my struggle, but recognize that this day is a gift just to BE in, then it’s okay. I had a life threatening illness a few years ago, and boy, does that change one’s view on time!
Time is a monster that seems to always be bigger than my ability to beat.
Time is and has been a factor in my DNA since early childhood. Pericles said, “Time, the wisest counselor of all.” It can be a two-edged sword, of course but I usually see it as a wonderful tool to keep me on the right path.
I have a love/hate relationship w/time. The Lord has said to me in the past, “Dear one, you have plenty of time to do the things I call you to do. Stop being anxious & trust Me”. Recently I’ve been trying to focus on living in the present, NOW – No Other Way! So I’m looking forward to this Lenten time to practice just that & hear what else the Lord has to say to me.
Some weeks time is very short because there is so much to accomplish. Then there are the times where everything hushes and it is in stillness and frozen. A peaceful retreat.
I like the idea that time is becoming my enemy. I’m only 27, but I’ve been having a “mid-life crisis” off and on since I was 23. I just realized that, one day, I’m gonna die and this life is brief. I felt paralyzed, rather than energized, by the choices I had to make about what to do with my life. It was so daunting, I actually found (and still find) myself “opting out” of the choice by just coasting with my free time: social media, rewatching old shows, replaying old video games, clinging to fading friendships and failing to make new ones!
I’m new to liturgical Christianity, coming from Mormonism. The near-obsession with “what time of year/day is it?” inspires me. My worship reminds me of the passage of time, but so often has some special reason to celebrate Today. This Lent, I’m turning off the social media and doing something new with my downtime.
Good morning Kirk: I am 80 years old; I grieve for you that as a young man, you should find your life without meaning at the moment. // I have no quick fix for you. We are given with free will. We just have to work out what we are going to do with it. Question: What do you really love? Perhaps, from your background, you have been trying to put a round peg into a square hole. This morning, Saturday, I ask God to grant you the gift of finding the Way.
Isn’t this morning ‘exercise’ wonderful: so many responses from so many of us following the Brothers guidance. There are many gathered here that need a little thought, a little prayer, to ask God to be with them in their need.
God bless. Christina
Have just spent a very enjoyable several hours reading all of the comments and copying out parts that attract me. There are many wise folk out there! Now I will pass along what I wrote for myself before I began reading the comments of others:
— I know that one day my time on Earth will end; I know that I am mortal.
— I succumb to distractions and misuse time.
— I become obsessive and waste time overdoing trivial things; I disguise this fact from myself by renaming it in societally-approved ways: “Being thorough”, “Finishing what I have started.”
— I find comfort in making To Do lists, then checking off tasks when I finish them. This can become compulsive behaviour. However, though it always takes effort, I can sometimes overrule a “Do” item and remove it from the list. Provided I’m not just deceiving myself, this can feel very liberating, as though I have gained back some time that I had thought was irrevocably committed.
— I like to finish tasks “on time”; sometimes unrealistic expectations on my part make this a burden. [To add now: my career as an architect surely had much to do with this!]
— This will be the best Lent I have ever spent in my 68 years. Thank you, SSJE!
Sometimes I feel as if I am waiting for the next thing to happen and his can be all consuming. I want to enjoy the moment more and let what happens in the future be less of a concern – Time will take care of that!
Since retiring and being quasi-disabled, time has become a bit of a millstone. I send hours rather unproductively and needed to hear this video. Example…responding to a video from 2/17 on 2/20. I need to get a better Lenten practice going this year. Thanks for being part of that!
Time. … Used to be my gauge for life, how much I accomplished was a measure of how well I was a steward of time. Time was my employer. Now, time is a blessing. How many minutes and hours do I have left in the day that I can spend with my spouse, my dog and my friends in soulful conversations or silence. The day seems to go by slower then. Still struggling with sitting in the presence on The Lord though. Working on that…
I never thought I would be a person who struggled with aging but heaven help me it consumes me on some days….of late I have realized that it isnt about wanting to be 20 again , or 30 or 40…it is about how the time has been used or not….one day you wake up and realize that the thousand opportunities or options or possibilities before you are indeed finite and the passing of decades necessitates the closing of some doors, door which one thought would be open long enough to receive what was within…doors which you realize once closed took hope with it and that the time has come to be like those folks the prophet Joel spoke about when he said ” your young shall dream dreams and your old shall see visions….I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh no matter its age….I guess I see this as an opportunity to see the pouring out and let the Spirit be what consumes me not those closed doors or missed possibilities…another prophet said to Israel after they too had squandered or missed the hope to which they had originally been called….” I will restore to you the years that the locust has consumed.” Part of the gift of a Benedictine rule is that each day we begin again as if it were the first and last and only day. That is the only time for which we need to be accountable.
So, where’s the “It’s complicated” button for this one? Too often, I find myself at odds with time. Time is often something there’s never enough of, something I find myself wondering if I’m spending wisely, something I over-stuff with to-do’s, something polluted with priorities that don’t always reflect the truly important and life-giving stuff. I DO experience the holiness of time when I’m in prayer–engaging in relationship with God in the here-and-now. Likewise, I experience time as holy when I’m engaging in authentic relationships with others. Our connections remind me that Love (and not mastering my endless to-do list) is what I’m wired for!
Since my unemployment, I have been resentful of my time. I have too much time on my hands and I do not know how to handle the extra time given to me. I am very distracted by television watching lately. I do continue my reading. I realize I have a ton of things to do around the house but tend to be too lazy to even start a project.
I have a growing sense of how precious time is and I often feelthat I’m wasting it on things like computer games and magazines or tv shows that I’ll forget within the hour. And I keep making new resolutions to be more attuned to what’s important and not really following through. I guess our relationship is ‘iffy”.
I never thought of time as a holy gift before. I thought of it as something we are captive to in this life. I recognize Jesus set us free, and our lives in him are eternal. But I have not yet experienced time as a holy gift. Thank you SSJE!
My relationship to time is … complicated. I’m really quite fearful of wasting time and I try to pack many, many tasks into my days. And yet, too often I look back at those tasks and realize that they were not a good use of my time. I’m very taken with the idea of time as holy … and excited for this Lenten study!
I seem to always try to pack more into a day than is reasonable. I often feel like I have to be doing something every minute. It is hard for me to be still and wait for God. This Lent I am setting aside time each day to be quiet and listen.
My relationship to time has always been uneasy. Being a planner I always fretted about never having enough time to get things done (while wasting time in the fretting). However I also recognize many ways that I spend time doing things that are not worthwhile and take time away from actually living. Having a young daughter now and balancing work and my small family I realize how precious, fleeting, and holy time really is. It’s a work in progress but I really want and desire for my time to be lived, not just passively experienced.
I am currently going through treatment for breast cancer and so I have been thinking about time and how much time I have left in my life. I don’t know. None of us knows. It has made me think about how I use time and how I want to use time. I haven’t got answers yet and it’s a good thing to reflect on.
I totally agree…when did it
happen that I fell victim to pieces of plastic & metal made by man? Thusly allowing time to slip away.And now, I shall go back in time, in order that I may find real time…to make a difference.
Even though I am retired, I often feel there are not enough hours in the day. I feel I am not managing time well. This brings up the question of how to decide what is worth doing and how to let the rest of the less valuable activities, even though they are fun, nevertheless, how to let them go! It had never before occurred to me that in the story of creation, God praised time in particular. We as humans are conscious of the passage of time unlike any other creatures so it makes sense that we would see God as placing a high value on it and praising the Sabbath . We need to live in God’s timelessness more often than we do.
I don’t feel that I have enough time, or that time goes by too quickly–never having long enough to rest and be relaxed.
At the moment, time is my enemy. I enjoy being an active person, but I work myself into exhaustion. During my free time, I just want to lie down and not do and not think. That puts me behind on all of my other priorities, so then I have to work myself into a frenzy again. I’d like to learn how to pace myself and enjoy life along the way.
I have announced my retirement and I’m finding it so much easier to prioritize with a deadline for getting things done! That makes me wonder why I couldn’t set intermediate deadlines while actively serving my congregation and that makes me realize I did set deadlines, establish priorities and then I ignored them.
I don’t want to continue feeling out of control in using my precious time and, as Mary Oliver says, my precious life. I’m hoping this series will help me discern new ways and methods for living fully into my time of retirement.
I’m learning to live “presently,” to do my best to appreciate “right now.” This isn’t easy, and I’m often caught up in regret about the past and anxiety about the future. I’ve found setting aside time for stillness has been key to reclaiming the understanding of time as a gift.
There never seems to be enough time for some projects/activities…or time goes too slowly and I want it to hurry up so that I can experience something fun or exciting. My work is based upon deadlines. Often there is this big rush and then a complete stop. It can cause a lot of anxiety. I try to “be still” and know that all be well…but that can be difficult sometimes.
As I grow older, I’m beginning to realize that time is increasingly important and must be used wisely; we must be good stewards of our time.
The very few times I felt absolutely in the presence of God were those times when I was alone and in absolute silence.
What is my relationship with time? Not an easy question to answer…I actually pondered this off and on most of the day and night yesterday…I am not in relationship with Time! I view Time as a disliked and distrusted manager. I need to meet Time’s demands, yet Time shows little respect for me. I need to manage Time, as a result of managing Time well, I will benefit. Time is a task master, and when my frustration rises to exhaustion I say “screw it” and waste Time resulting in further failing to meet Time’s demands and additional repercussions rather than benefits. I have great respect for the Liturgical year and the way we have redeemed seasons, and days…yet I have never thought of my Time as Sacred and something to be in relationship with. Rethinking my approach to Time, so that Time is my partner; a partner I should work with, honor, respect and value will be my foundation for another area where I will strive to be more intentional. “Man wasn’t created for the Sabbath but Sabbath for the Man”…Perhaps, for me today, “Man wasn’t created for Time, but Time for Man” is an appropriate starting place…Thank you Brothers! I look forward to more throughout this season.
Micro dimension? Time goes smoothly. Living alone, working at home, I can set my different times to do what I need and like. Each moment is full of creative activities.
Macro? Time has been my teacher. And now, when I am in the last curve, he helped me to conquer joy and serenity.
What phrase can we use that is not connecting us to time? Just recently (time related) one of my siblings met the author of the wonderful book, My Father’s Dragon, which we had read and been read to as children (time related: te past). My brother shared this meeting with the rest of us in a email–and we were each together with him in delight. We knew his joy and had joy ourselves, most of us weeping and telling each other this–mysteriously together in our separate places in the present, even hearing our mother reading the story aloud to us before we felt ourselves remembering the fact (time related). Holiness, time, love, each of us wholly alive even for an hour or two, joined by love and memory, refreshed, renewed, real in time, together.
I know many of the other experiences mentioned above, but separation is an experience of time that interests me as well as happens to me continually.
Time exists and flows whether we pay attention to it or not. Too many people keep busy and claim they have no time to do….whatever….but sometimes, many times, our busyness is about avoiding another activity, another issue or a means to either hide from an internal emptiness or a frantic effort to prove our worth externally to others. Busyness and lack of time are not the companion issues we see them as, busyness and focus/avoidance are often the issues – something I had to struggle with in my past, being busy must mean I have value to someone by what I do, right? But time simply is, and acts on us whether we focus on it or not. Taking even small bits of time to focus and meditate, pray, notice seems to expand time because in the end, it is not time we can expand or gain more of, but focus that expands us. Are we focused on a narrow to do list or the infinite graces of a small bird in flight, a smile, a person in front of us? Time and death are the companions, and if you really accept that the two walk together, each moment is a gift, and each person around you is a gift to be savored.
The fact that I am posting about this on the 19th instead of the 17th says a lot about my relationship to time. As does the fact that I missed my 6:20 a.m. flight this morning because I set my alarm for 4:50 p.m. instead of a.m. and, despite going to bed at 9, slept until 6:30. I just got back from the Monastery for a retreat that I knew I needed but was cut short because of the weather. What a gift to come home and get my workbook in the mail. Clearly, I have a disordered relationship with time, and I feel that I desperately need to stop right now. I look forward to walking through Lent with the Brothers as I attempt to look squarely at this now glaring issue and do something about it.
Time is what I’m always managing/fighting–deadlines, meeting schedules, commitments. Time has become something to struggle with, rather than to appreciate.
I took a short course in mindfulness this past fall, & part of that involved practicing being present in every moment. I’m actively working on this, particularly in listening to others.
My Lenten prayer is that I will use God’s gift of time more wisely & live more deeply into each moment.
I fear I manage time poorly. Always over scheduling and saying “yes” too often, which leaves me scrambling to get things done. The time I manage the least well is my time with God.
time has me constantly on the run. day in day out, i find myself chasing it; never catching it. sometime this frustrates me or angers me. in the last year, i’ve come to realize how ridiculous that really is.
A much less structured life (retirement) means more time but not always productive time. Volunteering helps, but there are days when I find myself with “time on my hands”.
As someone with ADD – but not diagnosed until I was 53 years old just last year – I always knew I had a problem with time management. And even when the management went well, the feeling within the activities of the day was never settled in nature. It was more a feeling of always knowing I had to get done – since there was a deadline – and I was always late – etc. I am finding now that any time I have off from my work as a deacon in the church, is also not quite settled. I used to do needlepoint and play guitar and piano. But not anymore. This Lent, my one goal is to play music in my off time.
(This first portion of this was posted on the YouTube response area). As one who retired early I had to learn to fill time. Good to see my friend (The Rt. Rev.) Chris Epting, whom I knew years back in place called Iowa, posting. He does bring up a salient point. It is awfully easy to become complacent in one’s prayer life; especially if one has experienced some “Dark night of the soul” time.I have done so rather recently in the last year my wife of 13+ years decided, after several tries, marriage was not for her. Shortly thereafter my father-in law dying unexpectantly after being cleared of cancer 18 days prior. It was those days I made a concerted effort to keep plugging along and trust God.
I would like to say thank you to the brothers for this series! It is both interesting andf helpful to see the different responses. Such a gift to see the different perspectives each person brings to tyhe same thought.
I am wasteful and lazy with time. I let it go by. I am also too generous with my time and need to be a bit more “selfish”.
Time has always been I want to say a friend. A friend that I often take advantage of and also ignore. Not really thinking about it I always felt there was time to do most of what I wanted starting with waking up each day alive and fit to do. But now I am getting older and looking to retirement and wondering will I have more time than iI know what to do with. How will I live with my time, How will I occupy my day and use my time. What new ways will I live in the time I have. Exciting and concerning this new relationship.
Time for an individual is finite. Managing that time is an infinite responsibility. We can be selfish about our time or selfless. Our self designed lives have left us praying for a 48 hour day to get everything that we perceive as need to be done accomplished. The hard part is deciding what can wait and what can’t. Being busy is almost like a drug…you have to be busy or you don’t feel “right”. This is where priorities need to be set and they are so hard to do as we are so ingrained at not saying “No” to someone’s request for our time. The balance will never be perfect – personal time v. serving time. Deciding on the priorities is needed but being mindful that we need time to recover, rejuvenate, rejoice, praise, worship, or we won’t have the time to help others.
I realize I am “running out of time”. I have so many things I still want to do and I see the end of the road approaching as I age. That makes me anxious about time…more so than I have ever been. Why such a concern I wonder? It’s something I have to deal with and I hope this series will help me.
When I was working, there were so many things that I had to do, and I never had enough time. Now that I’m retired, there are many things that I want to do, and still there isn’t enough time, but the pressure and anxiety are gone. I have regained my enjoyment of life. Sometimes I feel like a child again.
Time passes us by and then we say where has it gone. I feel I waste time on silly things. I always say I don’t have enough time but I do. It can be an excuse. I need good time. Present time. I need to be in time itself. Time for me. Time for me to be able to appreciate life more.
I know that my relationship with time is disordered–I can tell because I often feel anxious about its passing. I am looking forward to walking with all of you this Lent, learning to live in a way that honors and enjoys God’s gift of time.
People who care about me often tell me that I am taking on too many projects, that I should quit some of them and make more time for myself. I don’t seem to be able to prioritize my use of time so that I can “quit” things. I think that sometimes I overbook myself so that I won’t have to stop and take a good look at myself.
I feel very much like time is out of my hands. I have always been a very busy person with many different commitments and not enough time to do them. A few months ago, my mother suffered a terrible accident and I am now her care giver. Now my life has been put on the back burner and its all about her. Totally different life, but I’m still not in in sync with time.
Time is limited, amidst the hectic schedules one realizes that Time is short in supply! Really need to prioritize what is important!
The older we become, the more quickly time flies. It is a gift which is taken for granted, but denied to many. It is a gift which we need to treasure.
Easy to write trite phases, but very difficult to truly treasure time.
I think I use time as a way to work to become/prove myself worthy, rather than coming from a place of living as a worthy child of God and using my time in ways that reflect that inherent “created in His image” worthiness.
Time is that thing I always try to balance. It’s like a see-saw that if balanced brings great joy! It’s also like a vacuum. When not being a good steward of my time, it’s as if something just sucked it away from me.
When I was raising two children at home and shoehorning freelance work in on the side, there was never enough time. However, my husband and I retired and moved to a different state 12 years ago, and I discovered the gift of time. What makes the difference in my relationship with time is that in retirement I am able to select what I do with my time. I have ministries at our church that God led me to; I take time to indulge my passion for gardening; I write in my journal and read; I pray, meditate, and walk the dog; we enjoy outdoor activities in all seasons. I have learned not to overload my life, with the result that I almost never multitask. I enjoy doing each thing I do during my day at my own pace, and I only do one thing at a time. That is such a gift, such a blessing. My days are very full, but not too full. And if God leads me to do something, it’s a joy, not a task.
Time is sometimes my best friend and sometimes my worst enemy. More often than not “time” and I play games with each other… scheduling and planning it gives me satisfaction. When all goes according to MY plan, I am walking arm and arm with my “heartbeat” in sync with the “tick-toc.” Intentionally I look for opportunities to grow, I try to stay prepared through knowledge and practice those skills I am interested in developing. I think God is working with me in those moments.
My plan is not always God’s plan. (He knows I am self-centered, strong willed and determined to beat any odds.) However God allows me to make mistakes and and foolish decisions.That is when I trip up, slip into a muddied sea and am fighting time to survive. In this warlike state of mind nothing good happens to my rational/emotional perspective. I loose sight of God’s purpose if I fail to take time for prayer and self-examination.
Time, like a friend is a gift. I need to be more appreciative of each opportunity I have to experience the moments of each day. MSC
Took me some time to scroll down and find the comment box, there were so many comments. 🙂 Clearly this issue struck a nerve. With me as well. Piled next to my bed are self-help books about prioritizing and making time work for you. But somehow, following through on that keeps falling off the to-do list. My current relationship to time, like a lot of peoples, is vaguely guilty and harassed. I am hoping that through reflecting upon it and being more conscious of it, I will begin to see it not as something that is always slipping away but just as you say and as God intended, a gift. I think letting go of the guilt and trying to just be with the difficulty, rather than always beating myself up about it, would also be useful. So that’s a practice I will take up for lent.
I guess my relationship with time is a complicated one. I seem to never have enough and get cranky when someone else wastes mine and I always want to find a way to get it back. “killing time”, “time heals”, “it’s about time” and even “time out”…this first day has already given me a lot to think about. I am looking forward to the journey and what God may have in store for me. Time will tell.
I have a love/hate relationship with time. I tend to be impatient so in times when I want something to happen quickly I’m grateful for how fast it goes. However, there are many times that I wish time would stand still. I’m 25 and a grad student and just recently moved out. It’s bittersweet and it’s moments like this where I wish I could freeze time around age 20 or so when I was still an adult but the growing pains weren’t that bad.
My relationship to time is very much like Katrina’s. My husband has an illness and last year was given a prognosis that shocked both of us. Fortunately that prognosis has not come to pass. A symptom of this illness is fatigue and tiredness as well as hour by hour change in how he feels and is capable of any activity. Being his caregiver, I feel restricted in many ways and unable to join or volunteer at the Church or hospital as I did in the past. Leaving him for any length of time I feel guilty. Fortunately, his illness has brought to the forefront how much I care for and rely on my prayers to God and care for my husband. Like Katrina I often look to the time when I can have time for myself. He is now in remission for how long we don’t know but many symptoms are still present. Having said that I feel when I rest when I rest with him as he wants I am wasting time.
As I reach retirement I am gradually getting a handle on time. In the past I had to work long hours to support my family and missed spending time with them. Now I want to start saying “no” to overtime, extra jobs, getting up so early I cannot attend evening functions because I have to be in bed by 7:30. I am consciously taking time to do morning prayer and meditation, to read scripture (instead of Steven King), to spending time with my husband. It is a challenge, for my feelings of self-worth have been wrapped up in my productivity for so long, but I hope this Lenten series will allow me to open my heart to using time wisely.
Just scanning the responses posted by others, I am in the same rather sorry place. My life is full – overly full – and unless I budget my time well, I can’t accomplish all the tasks before me. Even before this series, I was beginning to consider ways to change my relationship with time. I love thinking that time is the first thing God called “holy.” This further inspires me to really consider what I’m doing with this life and how I can be sure I am using the time given for God’s glory and not merely my many commitments.
I see time with a different perspective since I retired. What I can do with my time now is exciting, whereas before, work consumed my time.
I am one of those folks who often feels like I never have enough time. There are always so many things to do. Since childhood I have been fascinated by time and the idea of time travel. I really enjoy Sci-Fi books and movies that relate to time and time travel.
There was a time in my young adult life when I has found a way to meditate at a level that seemed like I was stepping out of time. It was very peaceful. I was even able to “awaken” without todays many modern ways and alarms. I just knew when to come out of the meditation. There was one moment when I had a very low point in life where time stopped and I was with God … for what felt like an eternity … and then I was back in my life. 30 years later I can still recall that moment both eternal and instantaneous, in which I spent with God. And it was pure Love and Peace.
I am looking forward to this series and hoping it helps me get back in tune with time as God meant for me to experience and in an even more permanent, powerful and life changing way than when I was a college student all those years ago.
Where you treasure is, there your heart lies also. That is how I feel about time right now. I am not valuing time in my life at the moment. I’m not leaving enough time to pray, read, reflect or just BE. I’m looking forward this lent to gain some perspective on all of the 5 topics and to commit to giving them the time necessary to get the most out of them.
Stressed. I do have blissful times, times when I feel totally present to the world, engaged, participating in God. But still too much I am pursued, spending time doing things that do not give me peace, joy, satisfaction, things that seem not of God but of this… imposter who misuses “my” time–which really isn’t mine at all.
Time to me is an eternal measure of God’s love … time is that thought process that takes us where we want to go, into the life of God and into the holy oneness we call love. Letting my spirit answer this question is much more satisfying that trying to put into words the frustrations we often feel. Let us simply be one with the feeling that we have of love, and let it dictate our relationships … to time and all else.
I have spent the last year doing very little, and I have noticed how quickly I can fritter my time. But it just takes one thing: closing the laptop – to make the pool of time increase again. I think time is best use when we are aware that it is a finite source, so that we can consciously choose how to spend it.
I am making a conscious effort to spend more time being quiet with God and let him lead my thoughts. I then turn the thoughts into prayers. Was especially moved this morning to dedicate myself to him.
Time is fleeting somedays and other days it is abundant. I do not use my time as a gift and will try to do that. God has given me a great gift that I need to stop and be thankful for and appreciate.
Time has felt like something I need to get through on my way somewhere else, to something else. As I get older, though, I’m realizing that it is, it simply is and I must be, not just do.
I cherish wide-open time, those days when nothing is scheduled on my calendar. Yet so often on those days time soon begins to weigh heavily and then I zone out and waste it, frittering it away, and then I get angry at myself.
I’ve recently allowed myself to use that open time for quilting or knitting. The right side of the brain activity changes my perception of time–it’s more like a merging than a conquering. Ditto prayer (sometimes), ditto time with my young grandchildren.
The older I get the more I am conscious of time. Awhile ago my body decided to do a switch in my circadian rhythm the result of which is that I am completely out of sync with most people I know. I have found it liberating. In the silence that comes from not having to talk on the phone or meet with people, I find I am much more aware of the value of time and the slow passing of time. Someone said that minutes pass slowly, only hours, days, weeks, months and years pass quickly and that has become true for me. The minutes now pass slowly. I am now working getting the hours to do the same.
My relationship with time is complicated. I am a very efficent, organized person, so I sometimes find myself floundering throughout the day if I am not busy. I don’t sit still very well (and I know this is something I need to work on) so when I am not busy, I seem to find things to do, whether they really need doing or not! Yet, I love days that I don’t have much on my calendar and can be more flexible. I love my alone time, yet I am a social person by nature. When I am not busy and productive, I often feel like I am ‘wasting’ time.
It seems like I have been doing things towards a goal all my teen / adult life. Now my goal is to let God steer my life. I no longer feel guilty watching television or going to bed early when the dishes aren’t done … I will be quiet with God (a couple hours this morning) this Lenten season and continue my routine of working out and working 8 hours … Opening my heart more to God (I wish I could say fully) will be my focus this Lent and I look forward to this opportunity and SSJE helping me daily.
Feels like I am not using time wisely enough. I seem to forget that time with my husband, children, family and friends is a gift to be cherished.
Does time really go faster as you get older? Or do our lives just get busier? I’m hoping these videos will help me to take a step back and remember how time used to feel when I was younger and more carefree. When I did spend quality time with those who mattered to me and enjoying life rather than getting bogged down with life’s worries and stresses.
“Slow comes the hour it’s passing speed how great” is the words hanging over the doors to the dining hall where I went to college. It was true to me then as it is true to me today.
I have never thought of time as holy. I think of it as fleeting, as something to use wisely, as something I have wasted. I do not live in the moment enough and savor just being. To redeem my sense of time I need to be aware, be mindful, be present. I need to focus on the now, and stop thinking about what next.
I used to think that if I wasn’t productive in a way that could be measured, I was wasting time and, by extension, my life. In the past year, I have consciously worked to see time as a gift and to allow myself to see the love and care I give others as well as the time I give to myself in prayer or being in nature as an appropriate way to “spend” my time. This has helped me be less anxious about time and view each moment as an opportunity to be in relationship with others and with God.
Time……Hmmm…….I love free time but find that I am really good at wasting it. Time is certainly a gift from God and I want to use it wisely. I seem to bounce around from one thing to another. I am grateful for this study to center my thoughts (and life).
It seems that TIME is always threatening me. Pressing on me. Chasing me, not welcoming me. I don’t want to kill it, I just want Time to stop chasing me.
Time is our gift. Time is all we have, so it is important what we do with it. We are not promised a tomorrow, so today is important. Sometimes we waste today by worrying about tomorrow. I always have to remind myself of all this so I can spend my gift of time living for the day and the moment in case tomorrow does not come for me. I have gotten better at a conscious practice of enjoying, really enjoying, special time with my grandkids and living the moment and not thinking about what needs to be done in the future. It is a work in progress.
I drift in time like snow on a windy afternoon – thoughts piling up and shifting in some cosmic pattern. Patterns lingering only long enough to glimpse the divine. I have tried to hold on to the night and ignore its blackness, but have only succeeded in wandering in the darkness. Believing I understand the mystery leaves me blind
I love time and often squander it. In the midst of prayer or running in the university arboretum, the moment seems to be the only thing that matters. I can fill five minutes with the great pleasure of sitting with God, listening to birds, meditating on Scripture, writing a poem, or watching water. I can use twenty-five on social media not interacting with anyone.
When I am grounded in time, I am well.
When my time feels short, wasted, or daunting, I get tense.
I am dedicating this Lent to reclaiming my time.
Time is I think the most precious gift or asset we have to give. Quality Time is my love language, so I know I feel loved when my spouse or someone else gives me their time. I am learning to honour myself by giving myself time in the form of doing something I enjoy and not feeling guilty for saying no to something or someone else. I confess that I am not as diligent about time with or for God and that is my desire for this Lenten season to be intentional about my time with God and to honour God by taking the time to just sit in his presence, not doing something like reading scripture or praying (at least not my as the one doing the talking) and just be. If time for me is love, then spending time with God is demonstrating my love for God.
Time is an unstoppable wild thing that I long to tame and utilize for enjoyable pursuits and fascinations and serving…and its a quiet gentle thing that lives in my cat’s eyes all snuggled up and purring as I wait out the debilitating fatigue that succeeds in stopping me in my tracks…there time transforms into a tyrant drone…relentlessly ticking away…at least it’s moving when I cannot.
On the other hand, when I am able and do have it, it’s precious and sparkling and I realize it’s become a fine teacher in fine-tuning my awareness of the things I’m thankful for..no matter how ordinary…and finding God nestled there. I’m alive this moment – hurray!
Time is a finite resource and a gift. How to best use our time and other resources is, I think, a challenge for everyone. My relationship? There is always more I want to do in a given day than I am able to. But I am trying. Being present where I am at any given time is key. Appreciating the speed of time is important – something my small kids remind me often. Respecting our time and other people’s time is needed.
My relationship with time is bound up with my relationship with worry. I feel anxious when I think I don’t have time to do the many ministerial tasks that come my way daily; I worry that I don’t spend enough time praying and reading scripture; I feel that I’m shortchanging my family when I don’t make time for them in all the hectic activity of life and church. I keep coming back to that sentence about each moment being enough and pray that I will do a better job of honoring the moment I am in and not dwelling on the past nor peering anxiously into the future.
After having a lot of time recently due to difficult circumstances I realised how time brought me much closer to God and time has allowed him to help me heal from things I never thought possible. As I’m rebuilding my life I have found purpose in allowing God’s use of my time for whatever he calls me to do that day. Every day I pray I hear & listen to his calling – it has given me such different perspective on ‘time’ and my relationship with it.
I’ve felt all the ways you described in the video. Mostly now I see time as precious and not something to waste. As a gift. I want to use it wisely and well. Centering prayer helps me do this.
Not enough time. I work full time, have a child with aspergers and ADHD, a husband whose job has him leaving home early in the morning and returning late in the evening, and a mother with Alzheimer’s who constantly wants my attention, and I volunteer at church. Every day is like a marathon, trying to fit everything in. On those rare occasions that I have a few minutes for myself, i can’t enjoy them because my mind is focused on all the things I could be or should be doing.
please take time unto yourself and breathe. Stop volunteering. Any one of those situations is taxing. I cared for my mother with dementia and cancer. After she passed, I became ill from the years of stress. More years have passed and illness has become my unwelcome partner, forcing me to stop. Before your perfect storm has fully formed, please intervene with self care….jus say in’
I always feel that I am rushed, and I have no time to think about anyone else. This lent season, I am hoping to make time and check on family and friends.
I am in the process of learning how to make use of time; to not be idle, but take time seriously as it comes. I would like, as someone else stated, to give time, rather than take it. I would like to celebrate the time I have…each moment, by filling it in a God-given way, with each happening being the pearl of the moment, stringing together to make a beautiful necklace by the end of the day.
Too often it is the enemy of my day not the gift that God has given me. It is disordered not cherished.
This will be a helpful journey together.
Since my retirement I have wasted a lot of time – too much Facebook and not enough prayer. I hope to correct that this Lent.
I am controlled by time. I do too much work, and not enough alone time, or time to reflect and just be with God. The work I do I think is all about my ministry and using my gifts for God’s glory. But I am now overwhelmed with ‘too much’. I need to change. Thank you for this Lenten opportunity and discipline.
Time is not my enemy but I have abused it, that most precious commodity that once used, wasted or frittered away cannot be regained. How many times have I agreed to do something when I wasn’t really able to and then ended up rushing, panicking, getting worked up and, worst of all, have put God to the bottom of my “to do” pile. Precious time today, riding a steam train through beautiful Dorset countryside and just allowing myself to sit, be quiet and look out the window.
I carry a lot of guilt about time that I wasted in my youth. I see where others my age are in life and I feel behind. I rush to do everything these days, to try and “save” time, and yet I fund myself wasting it looking into some type of screen. TV, computer, and smartphone are areas where I waste too much time.
At this point in my life, time is a very linear thing to me. Hours in the day planned out with various activities/commitments. One completed item corelates with a task completed, or not, depending on where the hand of the clock is…
Because I tend to organize my time using a planner, I often find myself rushing through tasks in order to squeeze in more tasks or to find a bit of time that I can claim as my own…and even my “own” time is planned…reading, working out, etc.
Either too much or too little; seldom appreciate the NOW and more often than not look forward and back too much
Wow! Seeing the number of replies speaks to how truly needed this series is. I feel an urgency about time. After a Cancer diagnosis 7years ago I now feel an urgent need not to waste time on things I don’t like/that don’t bring fulfillment. But also an urgency to do all the things on my Bucket List because I feel life can change in an instant and the other shoe may drop at any time. Hard to reconcile all that in the everyday workaday world where there never seems to be enough time.
Right now I approach time as something to be managed. Filled. Very difficult to just sit and drink in a quiet moment. However, when I look at my children who will be grown before I know it, I want to manage time by controlling it. To slow it down in order to keep them young.
I feel like time is always something I am competing against. No matter how strategic I am, or how much I try to re-order my life, i always feel as if I am trying to squeeze the most out of every minute. Which means I am seldom fully present in the moments I am inhabiting…
Most of the day is spent not actively thinking about time, until the time is passed, leaving us with memories and regrets. Today we are blessed to concentrate, to contemplate, to “be” time. The weather where I live is cold and harsh; I imagine it as a “desert” experience. Today is the first day of the journey. In a few short weeks we go from a winter snowfield to the glorious resurrection.
Time is a precious gift. I find myself feeling centered when I am using time to live my life in the moment – this can be challenging at times because I have a tendency to focus on the past or worry about the future.
All my life I’ve been anxious about being slow–moving too slowly, doing whatever work is before me too slowly, procrastinting, not keeping up, keeping others waiting. In retirement I am trying to discern how best to use the time I’ve been given–to BE in time without wasting it now that there are fewer deadlines.
As a mom to a 3 and 5 year old, time both seems the enemy and to fly by as I watch my children grow up. I also take a very homework intensive class and have a myriad of interests that there never seems to be enough time to fully explore. For me, I find myself resentful of the fact that there is never enough time to do what needs to be done AND to do what I want. It’s a constant choice and I hate the feeling that I’m making the wrong one. I’m looking forward to exploring the concept of redeeming time this Lent.
I am constantly feeling guilty over wasting time and not getting enough done. My project list is endless; yet even when I am able to check something off, the feeling of accomplishment is short lived. I find myself alternately engaging in frantic pursuit of goals and total withdrawal from everything. I have no idea how to fit creativity, prayer and glorifying God into the cycle. I’m hoping this series will point me in the right direction.
When I consider time as past, present, and future I realize I am often obsessed with the past or the future–but neglect the present, which is the only reality that exists at any one moment. My prayer is that, with God’s help, I will embrace awareness of the “right now” and no matter if the moment is happy, sad, hurried or stagnant, to hold it dear as the most precious gift it is.
At my current age (73), I find myself frittering away time, killing it in a desperate effort , perhaps, to deny death. I find myself looking for various means to satisfy myself, to feel good, to enjoy, even as those capacities to receive pleasure wane and dull. I hope this Lent that I will STOP, et al. I think this series of videos and other materials will strengthen my resolve to change, to revere time by using it in a sacred manner.
Andrew Marvel said it best: “At my back I always hear/Time’s wingèd chariot, hurrying near. “
Time is my greatest nemesis at the moment. It disappears so quickly and I am left, consistently, wanting more. My hope is this practice will help me to have a better relationship with time.
I don’t treat time very well at all. I either waste it, use it incorrectly or let it walk all over me. I want to live a life closer to God, able to do His will at the drop of a hat. But then I let my skewed and codependent relationship with time get in the way. Like St. Paul said, I do the things I don’t want to do while not doing the things I want to do.
Recently I came to the realization that my time on earth is limited and began thinking about how to use this time to glorify God. I asked myself, how should I use this time?. My initial thought was to be available to love and care for others but I find this very tiring and then I lose my time in sleep. I need guidance to respect my precious time and not waste it.
I think of the words of St. Augustine, “time is a distention.” As Augustine knew so well, the perpetual challenge for us living in both chronological time and “kairos” or God’s time, is to embrace the moment. While memory and anticipation are important, the present is the best opportunity we have to encounter the living God.
I experience time as raw material to be shaped and ordered. I do not often feel rushed, and I do not feel the need to fill up with time with activities, but I DO feel the need to order it. My days cement into blocks of routine. This feels like strolling through all the rooms of a house who have built and furnished: some rooms may be full of furniture; some may be bare. Some rooms may be noisy and full of clean up or chores to be done; some may be quiet and just beckon me to sit, or to pray. The underlying factor is that they are all parts of an ordered whole that I have created.
While I don’t think this house is necessarily a bad thing (it suits me most of the time), the most awesome time come when a major shift (a move, leaving a job, starting a new marriage, vocation) comes that shakes the entire house until the whole structure falls down. Then I am left staring up at the endless sky and landscape of time around me. This is terrifying, but it is also exhilarating. This is when I feel closest to God. I am more inclined to pray at these times.
There’s never enough time for me to do all and accomplish all that I want. I feel frustrated at times and pulled in so many different directions, rushed to produce and to complete, instead of allowing myself to just stop and to be. It’s very hard for me to listen to God’s voice when I’m rushing about and doing so much.
Having read through the comments I realize that an ambiguous relationship with time is present for so many of us. I also struggle to “find” time for all the responsibilities and tasks of my day. If I am not careful, I can often feel like I have failed God for not attending to as many things as I feel I should. Some years ago I learned an evening prayer from the New Zealand Prayer Book, and these particular lines have helped me: “It is night after a long day. What has been done has been done. What has not been done has not been done. Let it be.”
I feel the abundance of time and do sense it as a gift. It has a flexibility to it and I know if I am attentive I can have all the time I need. However this also means I tend to take my use of time too seriously. I don’t enjoy my life enough. I think I need to play more.
My relationship with time varies and I often think my use of time is chaotic or wasteful. Time is precious and we do indeed have in this time and space one journey – i need to be more mindful.
I have never consciously thought of time as holy -but of course it is for it is the gift of life itself, isn’t it?
A recent automobile accident almost my life and/or at minimum altered it to something quite alien and repugnant. With God’s help and much care I survived. I realized what I almost lost and began to focus on time as the precious gift hat really is.
I would say I definitely have a love/hate relationship with time. There are days when I feel very productive and as though I’ve milked every waking minute for all it’s worth, and there are days when the guilt of accomplishing nothing overwhelms me. I think I need to stop associating time with productivity. I certainly don’t believe God would have us be lazy or idle, but He Himself (as our lesson pointed out today) set aside a day of rest and called it holy.
I have often found comfort for my need-to-be-busy heart in the 23rd Psalm when the Shepherd “makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul.”
Obviously being too busy to slow down isn’t a new struggle.
I am glad for this Series during Lent. I have always been a procrastinator. Never using my time wisely but wanting to change. I am looking for this series to help me to see the gift of time & use the time I have here the way God intended. Use the gifts I have been given wisely.
I’d love to learn to befriend time in this last quarter of my life. i have been retired for three years yet i still feel rushed to do and accomplish. What might it feel like to yield or lean into my day in a relaxed manner? I remember while climbing this huge mountain in Stowe How I was so angry at my children for choosing such a difficult climb. My son told me that guides of his in the Himalayas laughed at him as he went to attack the mountain with his vigourous stride. He slowed my climb right down and I was able to make it to the top of the mountain. But first I needed to come back to my breathe. This lent I want a new relationship with time. I want to concentrate on the breathe in all the activities of my day. I want to live the gratitude of that breathe as God gives me yet another day to be His beloved in the marketplace.
My relationship with time has been summed up for most of my life in a song by The Eagles:
“The Long Run”
by The Eagles
I used to hurry a lot, I used to worry a lot
I used to stay out till the break of day
Oh, that didn’t get it,
It was high time I quit it
I just couldn’t carry on that way
When I was in the Army, time was always insufficient. Do everything on the double, get it done as fast as possible so one could move on to the next mission.
When I worked for call centers, what “time” was depended upon which KIND of time: Call time; Hold time; Over time; Training time. All were important, and all had to run concurrently.
Anymore, as I approach 60, I’ve come to the realization that in a million years we’ll all be crude oil anyway, so all this worry about time was for naught. Now I’m trying to spend my remaining time in more personal and spiritual pursuits. Trying, that is. I just gave up Facebook for Lent, so that’s a beginning.
Time is my friend.
I think I see “time” and “myself” in terms of a subject/object relationship, one in which both “self” and “time” are gifts of God’s grace.That I have life and consciousness in the world is, for me, nothing less than a gift from God. I have that gift ( life ) in the field of “time” within which “I” will live out my mortal exixstence. This space, “I” view also as a gift from God- indeed, it is hard to separate the one gift from the other. There is also a third gift involved here: the gift of freedom. God gives me the freedom to spend his precious gift of “time” as I WILL. Here the words of the “our Father” come to mind: “thy WILL be done on earth as it is in heaven. During the lenten period, my focus will be on trying to use my “free will” in ways that are consistent with what I believe to be God’s will.
I try every morning to talk to God and tell Him my time is in His hands. When I keep that thought my day goes by with such peace. I pray I can make that morning talk an every morning talk and discipline myself to live each day with my time in His hands. God Bless.
Before Brother Tristam began to speak I was going to say that I was oblivious to time. In a lot of ways I really am. When Brother Tristam began this first short homily he described time as an enemy that captures most of your waking moments. This is true. Immediately my thoughts turned to my time in Boston at the Monestery and the ‘silent retreat’ and how much wonderful time I spent in my Cell alone and in quiet.(Reading ,thinking, praying and sleeping). I recapture those wonderful moments in my ‘Man Cave” as far away front the front and back doors of our home, no telephone utter quiet.
I’ve been thinking over the question of time and how I use it for some time, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I have likely been asking the wrong questions. I don’t need more time. I don’t need better time. I don’t need to figure out how to go on doing the same as I have always done only more efficiently or acceptably. (Acceptable to whom?) I need to change my relationship with it, to see both time and myself differently. So much of our relationship with time is shame based — what we didn’t get done, how much more someone else got done, what we let slide, how we are never enough to do what we think we need to do, how we do not “measure up.” But…what if the negative things I have believed are not true? What if there really isn’t anything to be ashamed of? What if God sees me not with the judgment I project onto him but with a kind and knowing smile, saying, “Slow down, child. Breathe. Don’t you realize I already created you as Enough?” That calm assurance is what I want. I feel so much better and, dare I say, get more done when I am rooted in the present, in love, than when I am pushing myself. Goodness, just the time I spend in fretting over what I did not get done would return a chunk of time and calm I could use for healthier things!
So true. thanks for this thoughtful post
Time has always been a struggle for me. I find it very difficult to take time out for me. I hope to use this Lenten season to get better in my relationship with time.
My favorite song about my emotions regarding time was sung by Olivia Newton John, “No it’s never enough, never never enough. Why is all that we have simply never enough?” There never seems to be enough time for prayer, meditation, ministry to others, my children, my husband, and self. I love what a previous contributor posted – how Lent should be a time to rethink how we spend our time.
It seems a constant struggle and anxiety-producing. I feel like there’s just never enough time to finish everything in my to-do list, whether real that day or in my mental (and often ambitious) list on a given day. When I do find myself resting or not doing anything I feel guilty because of that little voice that says “you should, could be doing this instead, you lazy bones!” As if I should somehow be productive every single minute. In the end even my resting times don’t feel so restful. My husband has to remind me that I’m allowed to rest! Then my body forces me to rest by getting sick occasionally. I realize it’s not healthy and I need to work on it. Thank you for making me meditate on this.
I find that sometimes I forget to put normal everyday tasks on my To-Do list alongside the other line items and thereby miss giving myself credit for a lot of things! We may be adults, but everybody needs a Gold Star or Smiley Face sticker sometimes. 😉
I am turning 65 next month and it is freaking me out. I am suddenly aware of making the most of the time I have. Sometimes “making the most” means doing the least.
Time is a gift that I can give to others. I offer my time to help my parents with their chores, to volunteer in my community, to care for my family and friends. Like love, it is one of the gifts that, on the best days, flows from God through me into the world, a power for good (I hope!).
Discombobulated. I feel like it’s a scarce resource, guard it greedily, and don’t enjoy what I have.
Sometimes time is a friend, often an enemy. I appreciate most the time I am caring for others, or myself. I resent most the time when I “must do” things. It seems that most of my time is in the “must do” category.
I have tended to waste time for great periods of my life. I disassociate from the present moment quite frequently. Part of this is caused by PTSD, but another aspect of it is that I have always loved life so profoundly that, ironically, it kills me to be fully alive. I mistakenly think somehow that I am tricking time, that I am giving myself evidence of having more of it, by wasting it. Like a man who tries to make himself feel richer by throwing his money away.
After viewing the video, I realized that down deep I always thought of time as humankind’s invention, since God is timeless. Therefore, my relationship with time was adversarial, the result of original sin. But I see now that in the rhythm of the universe, the nights and days and seasons are truly a gift from God. This Lent, I will try to treasure, respect and honor time as gift.
“What is it that you plan to do with this one wild and precious life?” This quote speaks to me so deeply! We move at such a pace in the 21st century, and yet I do believe that how we spend our time is a reflection of our values. When I step back and see the big picture, it affirms that I am headed in the right direction. When I look up close, I see I can do some fine-tuning…
I need to make better use of my time. It seems I never have enough time to do all the things that need to be done.
Tempus fugit.
Time fled until my husband received a diagnosis of end stage liver cancer in November. Now time has become precious, and even though I strive to slow its progress, there is simply not enough of it left. Tempus fugit.
May you be surrounded today by the grace you need to walk this difficult path.
I think of time as something I am supposed to use wisely. But I struggle with the “how.” The thought of it as a space to provide rest, reflection, restoration to myself does not come easily – as though that is wasteful and not being productive. I’ve turned 65 and seriously wonder how I am supposed to use the remaining “time” I have as God wants. If I can totally rethink “time” during this Lent and come away with something fresh and new for my life, that would be a great gift.
My relationship with time has been and is polarized. On the one hand “there is never enough” so I rush about, shoe-horning my life, work and relationships into thin increments in a datebook. On the other hand “there will always be time in the future” for relationship, prayer, study, reflection, so I put these things on the shelf. This past week an invitation has come to take a new view of time: as gift and blessing. I learned that I have cancer and time is suddenly more precious; relationships and prayer more important; work less urgent.
First, I am sorry for your recent diagnosis. As encouragement…when I was walking through two bouts of cancer with a dear friend (who is, incidentally, still with us about fourteen years later) it struck me that the gift in it really is learning that any moment spent with someone you love is precious — whether that moment is good, bad, or mediocre. It is as if surgery is performed in another way as those things we thought were important are cut away to make more room for the things that mattered more even when we did not see them that way. My friend said much the same thing, that while she would not have wished to get cancer to learn the lessons she did, she was still grateful for what God had shown her through that time. Wishing you strength, courage, and healing in your path.
I am in the process of retiring at the end of this month, so my fear is that I may be going from never having enough time to having too much time to fill. I usually make it a priority to read a book during Lent because reading is something for which I don’t always find time. This year I have chosen Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time” in keeping with the theme. In any case, my relationship with time is changing.
What an absolute treasure is this reading from all of you regarding your relationship with time. As I read the sharings I found most times I was nodding my head in agreement even when there were negative comments. Still working a 40 hour week long after retirement has me extremely tired at the end of the day. but the work I am doing is such a blessing that it is lifting me up in ways I had not expected. And so is my relationship with time. Just when I think I don’t have enough of it, God shows me that in His economy there is just enough when it is all to His glory. Peace to you all.
Time…doesn’t seem to be enough and so many distractions and wasters of this precious gift.
Miss the days where time seemed like it stood still.
How often I end my day with punishing thoughts of how I spent my time, longing for greater peace about how my hours were used. Lately, I’ve been thinking about Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. About how he ‘used’ his time in prison, how he used his time with the guards, how he used his time to write and uplift others…glorifying God and spreading the Gospel. To Paul – to live is Christ. (Philippians 1:21). Isn’t living essentially our time? Paul had peace about his living (his time) in God. My prayer this Lent is to look to Jesus in my daily hours and not be dominated by my never ending to-dos. To prayerfully stop and be still in Christ, even while sitting in traffic, or putting dinner together, or meeting a deadline. Thank you SSJE for this needed series.
I like your perspective shift!
The older I become (71), the more I realize how precious time is and the faster it seems to go. I am trying to be more selective in how I use my time so that I waste less of it on meaningless activities.
I’ve asked questions about the passage of Time ever since I gave birth and watched my children growing so rapidly. What puzzled me was that as they grew I could not remember them as their younger selves. What seemed real was this new person before me and the rest, their baby hood or toddler years, came back only like photographs. I started thinking about Time with a renewed urgency. My father, then in his 70s, told me that time passed much, much faster as one aged. Now that I have reached that age, I find this to be true.
The only thing that ever made sense to me was written by C.S. Lewis. He said that we are surprised by the passage of Time because we were created for eternity.
I am very excited about this series. I enjoyed immensely your conversation with the bishop/physicist of Rhode Island and look forward to more of such thinking and writing. Peace.
Thank you for what you wrote! I feel like C.S. Lewis reminds me I am a holy creation of God, and therefore why wouldn’t I be anxious over this concept of Time? It’s “ok” and simply part of my human experience. That said, Jesus promised to walk beside me as I struggle through my earthly life. My hope for this series is that I will better hear his guidance for how to experience Time as he would want me to.
Yes, Yes, and yes again, to all that you shared. I love being reminded of C. S. Lewis’s observation.
I have had moments of experiencing time as holy – resting after a period of intense work, at worship or in meditation. More often than I wish though, my day is burdened by all the “things” I “have to” get done. I am grateful for this introduction to transforming the way I think about time.
Even now, as I set aside what I “should” be doing in order to reflect on my relationship to time, I am feeling anxious. Anxiety is what haunts me as I go through my days always thinking about what needs to be done, even during the moments when I am properly engaged in what I am presently doing with my time. I negate the present moments with worries that the tasks that lay ahead will not be addressed.
I am not at peace with Time. Either I worry about the end of my life and wanting things to be perfect now. Having it all. And on a daily basis I am in constant struggle with the Time in a day. Balance between work and relaxation — how much of each, too much of this, too little of this…..
Time is on my side – The Rolling Stones
I am retired now. I no longer work for a company or a manager. I am in a sense I am my own boss now. My time is my time. I spend my early hour of the morning starting at 4 am reading the daily lectionary, the sermons from SSJE, Richard Rohr’s Action & Contemplations Daily Meditations. and Meditations from the Plough. It is time well spent. This starts my day.
I have a hard time living in the moment, my mind leaps ahead to plan out the next hour, day, month, year. Walking in nature helps me appreciate my space and time, but even then I can get focused on destination and end time. The other practice that helps me let go of that anxious time counting and planning is a quiet style of yoga called Svaroopa. My Lenten promise is to do some Svaroopa every morning and evening in Lent- maybe that will allow my mind and spirit to rest.
This is funny… I approached this opportunity…to answer the question about time….with calm, I’m better than I used to be, starting the day with spiritual something no matter what…but then ran out of time to read all these good responses!! Wonderful question…I know it will weave its way into the rest of Ash Wednesday.
Time is controlling for me. I must book my time at work by 10ths of an hour. So, everything I do is scheduled – even Saturdays and Sundays. I schedule exercise, church activities, everything and feel guilty when I “blow off” a Saturday and do not get done the items I have scheduled.
I never am satisfied with the amount of time I have in a day
I have never had enough time! But for a couple of years I have enjoyed learning that time spent in reading and study and in just being a presence with others is not wasted. It is a gift.
I look forward to each moment, but I pack too much into those moments. I don’t feel like I give myself enough time with any one activity. There are so many things I want to do, so many books to read, so many songs to sing, but not enough time to fit it all in.
I feel right now tiime is passing too quickly …for the relationsips that matter most
I find the challenge of judging what is my own best use of time a challenge.
A very difficult question to answer as it compels the realization of how much time I have ‘wasted’ – watching bad television seems a true waste of time but time spent playing with my cats seems oddly wise. Time spent cooking with my wife is good but time spent aimlessly drifting on line seems bad. (However, one of those aimless driftings took me to this wonderful web site.) My fear is to find that Richard II’s confession will come to be my epitaph: ‘I wasted time and now time doth waste me’. Your quote from Mary Oliver is a wonderful challenge.
I like your point that some things that might be considered wasted or nonproductive time really are productive, like the stress relief in playing with the cats. I think it is too easy to forget how much we need precisely that kind of “play” time. We have some old chandelier crystals hung by some of the windows. When the sunlight hits them right, there are rainbows in the room. A quick twiddle of the crystal and (always provided we catch him between naps) then we get the fun of watching our cat chase rainbows. There’s wonder, joy, laughter, and fun in that “wasted” time, which would argue it is not wasted at all.
Right now in my life I am in transition between calls and have more time on my hands than I have had for the past 7 years. I am trying to use it in holy ways, but I find that I also fritter it away. Then I decide I have to “produce” and I use my time to clean and organize. It’s a constant tug of war within my heart and soul.
My relationship to time is inconsistent. One day, I have time for every task; everyone; everything that matters. My fullness of time is the cup overflowing. Then, another day, I’m late all day and there is no time for me, let alone anyone else. I feel rushed on those days, harried, confused even. My goal is to piece together time to meditate, time to delve inward a little more each day, to enjoy time and build space to reflect and breathe.
Sometimes time is my enemy but other times I just want more because the time I just spent was so enjoyable. My husband said that Choice is our gift and burden because it is our choice how we spend our time.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. I feel very aware of the fleeting nature of time. Like a flower, my physical bloom is already past. I’ve a sense of urgency: “what will I do with this wild, precious life?”
On a daily basis, my life is organized by my schedule. As a strong Myers-Briggs J, I like knowing what I’ll be doing all day, and think about my life in blocks of time. Now I’m in my daily quiet time, and one part of me is anticipating my next block going to the gym. It’s very hard for me to stay present: open to what is right now.
There’s a children’s story (Frederick, L. Lionni) about a mouse who didn’t gather food in the fall like the other mice. It looked as though he was wasting time, but he was actually gathering colors, words, warmth, etc. to share on the long cold winter days. Down-time is like that. The “enemy” is the voice inside that tells me I’m being lazy by not accomplishing anything, when in truth I’m taking care of myself and gathering moments to balance the business of my day. If I can embrace it that way, perhaps I won’t resent the demand that work places on my time as much.
What a beautiful analogy! I think maybe this is why we’ve turned into such a apathetic, harsh society of overworked people: we haven’t taken the time to store up anything beautiful for fear we’d be ostracized and called “lazy”.
I feel guilty for wasting time. I procrastinate about and sometimes don’t do important things on time.
Martha, your post resonates with me. I feel so guilty about how much time I waste. I try to avoid the procrastination by telling myself that ‘procrastination is the thief of time ‘ and it helps sometimes. I never really thought of time as holy and that makes a big difference. I look forward to these five weeks. Thank you Br. Geoffrey.
I feel that I am always fighting time. I put pressure on myself to get “things done” in a given amount of time. Even now that I am retired there never seems to be enough of it and yet like Br. Geoffrey said there are times that I waste time not wanting to do anything and feeling overwhelmed. For most of the year, weather permitting I and able to walk and during this time I do let everything else go, but I haven’t been so successful when stuck in the house. I too have a love/hate relationship with this elusive concept we call “time”
I believe that we came from and will return to a realm of existence with God in which time does not exist. To experience life in terms of time is, therefore, a phenomenon of our incarnate existence. It is a gift but, ironically, it is also the cause of all the human weaknesses that separate us from God and one another. Without the limitation of existing in time, there would be no jealousy, envy, anxiety, fear of the future…all the things that lead us to behaviors that separate us. When we think about Jesus’s concept of the Kingdom of God on earth, I think he was asking us to rise above the limitations brought on by existing in time to relate to one another with the one thing that can overcome these limitations, LOVE.
Carol, your description matches my own basic belief – that’s my healthy relationship to time. My unhealthy relationship is to feel as though crucified on a clock. I once had a dream in which the person who loved me (I now recognise this as one through whom God chose to speak) told me that “we had all the time we needed.” I try to recall this when I’m feeling anxious. I’m really looking forward to following the discipline of this practice of time for a Holy Lent. However, I must not be drawn into trying to read each person’s comment.
Time is a thief. When Time steals my minutes, Time steals my heart. When Time steals my heart, Time steals my soul. When Time steals my soul, Time keeps me from a right relationship with God.
If I stay in the present and experience time passionately in whatever activity I’m involved in, it’s a beautiful thing and feels just right. However, if I dare look back or forward, I want to slow down the passage of time as it seems it has, or will move more quickly than I desire.
Time seems like an enemy, a constant adversary standing at the battle lines taunting me, mocking me when I fail to accomplish the myriad tasks that I have set before myself each day, and at day’s end nagging me for those things left undone. Time sucks every bit of joy from life, demanding that I expend that time to accomplish the many little jobs of the day, while denying me the time to do what would be most edifying for me. But the reality is that time is not the enemy, I am my own enemy, measuring my worth but how much I accomplish and envying others when I see them “wasting” time, when the reality is that a time away from the self-imposed slavery of time is what I desire most. My prayer for Lent is that this may be a TIME when I change my relationship with TIME and learn to take the TIME to live.
Amen to your prayer! I sometimes say that I seem to have two speeds, Full Bore and Collapse. When I feel well enough, I keep pushing and pushing like a sled dog hauling an overloaded sledge on its own. Invariably, this wears me out on multiple levels, my body reacts, and then we hit Collapse. I hate the cycle but have been unable to break out of it. Currently, I am in the process of learning a new way because the way I have been doing things is simply unsustainable.
I love what you say about blaming time when we ourselves are at fault for our misuse of time. We are about trying to go against our current culture with its twisted view of time, but ultimately this can benefit not just us, but those we love as well!
I wonder if this problem we have with time is part of being human …. even when we ‘know’ how precious each moment is and have some control over it … we (or at least me) misuse it …
Thanks for this…
i feel driven by time.
I experience time unfolding before me in a sequence of events for which I need to prepare or for which I have some responsibility, so even when there is nothing scheduled right now, I am not at rest.
When I am reading or using social media, I too often feel like I am wasting time or shirking my responsibilities.
This Lent I have the unwelcome gift of plenty of free time, so I’m looking forward to learning how to rest *and* work, stop *and* go.
I like your term, unwelcome gift. What a good way to put it. Speaking from my own experience, sometimes the unwelcome gifts I’ve received have wound up being exactly what I needed, catalysts to push me in a direction I might not have headed had they not been given to me. Seeing them as a gift, however unwelcome, seems to open doors in the heart somehow. It does not negate the pain or unwelcome quality of them but rather helps us change our focus. I’m in that process right now with an unwelcome gift!
Time is an empty space we all fill up with less important thing, rather than the people that are most important.
I learned a lesson about time in walking my daughter’s dog, to enter into the experience of simply being there, on the road with Matilda, ambling along, having to stop and wait while she sniffed and poked her nose here and there. My initial impatience slowly dissipated while annoyance turned to interest and then to amusement, ultimately to joy! By experiencing ‘dog time’ I moved into adoration; walking and being became prayer. I was, for that period, in time with God, the world, and creation.
That might just be how Jesus walked, too, taking the time to Be present in that moment. I find that God speaks through many methods and often through lessons presented by my animals. Dogs do not suffer our human failing of projecting ourselves forward in time and then being afraid of something that might not ever happen. As you say, they walk, they sniff, they poke their noses here and there, and they deal with the future when it becomes the present. Put that way, I think my dogs are a good bit smarter than I am!
Organizing my time to be with GOD in silence and prayer is a daily ritual. Sometimes I think I may become stagnant in repeating the same prayers each day. However, it has allowed for the relationship with GOD to be a way of living. The most difficult to find is time with my family, friends, and even alone time just to relax and unwind. Seems to be wasted on the computer or a TV show.
It has taken time to recognize this, but I see now I bully time then blame it for my failings. I pray to change my relationship with time, to respect it and live mindfully.
Well said and insightful!
Time is my challenge as I grow older. it passes so rapidly and I’m aware of how precious it becomes. Am I managing it well? Those things I have left undone…there is always tomorrow and I can be satisfied with today.
The hurrier I go the behinder I get.
My workday is measured in 45 minute segments, but I take time to listen to my clients in hopes they’ll listen to me! I know that if I work less than 8 1/2 hours a day I will negatively impact my clients’ lives.
I take time at all three meals and the evening to enjoy my mate.
I call family and friends in the evening, and I try not to work on anything but house work on the weekends we are home.
I have to go to bed by 10:30 or I get too tired.
We pray silently before every meal, and mostly I thank God for the joy of my family.
Time is a commodity. It’s to be used, organized, manipulated, sliced and diced. Its to be taken seriously and used wisely, efficiently and fruitfully, not frittered away. I play this out putting my most important things to do in early time slots. Then filling the middle with an endless variety of tasks, and when I’m done for the day. I have “free time.” Often, however, when I get to “free time,” I’m too tired to enjoy it.
I try to create a gem of time each day. It varies in color, cut, clarity and carats; it is unique. And it is my gift back to God.
That is so moving. I like it. I think I will try that. Thanks for sharing and helping others.
As most people have said, I view time as an enemy. However, I think I am a little different than many people. I have an underlying health condition and this time I have been sick since Christmas. It seems like day after day after day of being sick and how am I going to cope. I just can’t concentrate on reading a book. To me that would be good use of this time. I need to rethink this and decided how, within the constraints of my illness, I can make time holy. A challenging question for me in a wolrd where many people are too busy.
I empathize with you as I too, struggle with ongoing health concerns and the time that takes just in dealing with the day to day. When we are well, we take for granted how much time to allow for doing such simple things as washing the dishes, taking a shower, or putting on socks and shoes and getting out the door to an appointment. When you are not well, especially if you are in pain, it is hard to concentrate because suffering tends to narrow the universe to that single focus. It is hard to see beyond it sometimes when the old ways we did things no longer work for us. Perhaps that it part of the gift in the condition, that it forces us to find new ways to see and be and that, in so doing, we also learn new things about time, that perhaps, just perhaps, there are alternatives to how we always saw and treated it. I am in a state of learning on this myself, so I cannot offer answers, only thoughts and the assurance that you are not alone. Many blessings to you.
Time seems to be my enemy, teasing me with so little of it, yet so much ‘needing’ to be fit into it. I’ve begun recently to be more thoughtful with my time, but I find this very hard…I’m a ‘doer,’ and to do things I need time. I think the answer is to try and do less, do what is important, be more wise with what I plan to do. But I’ve grown up being taught that to do less is failure, so I will struggle with this.
Time is precious not to be wasted. When I waste time, I feel sad since it has been squandered. I try to manage it by prioritizing my activities and sometimes feel anxious about my ability to manage this perceived limited resource.
My personal use of time is something I am focusing on and praying about right now, so this couldn’t come at a better time for me. I struggle to balance time with God, my young family, work and home and often feel my time is not used as effectively as it should be.
Time is my child. Time is my ancient parent. Sometimes it runs ahead of me, beckoning me to catch up. Sometimes it is behind me, asking me to be calm and patient. I think to be able to see it through the eyes of the child or the ancient one is helpful.
I have worked as a counselor with an inhospital palliative care service for about 10 years. Being with so many people who have chronic, debilitating illnesses and so many people who are actively dying has helped me to value time because I know that my time in this physical body is finite. When you are faced with your mortality so often, you want to live life fully and with meaning. I began practicing yoga last year during Lent and discovered how noticing breath and combining it with movement helps me to connect with God. I continue to feel rushed, but lately I have been trying to fully experience all moments. It’s vey hard! I tend to be dreaming about the next moment ( the moment I would rather be experiencing. But when I remember that where I am is n this moment I feel more settled and whole. It is still a work in progress.
Time for me is unpredictable. My calling is to hospice ministry, so the date/time of death is unknown; a mystery between God and the dying one. My challenge is to live in this mystery and balance the time of my head and my heart.
I grieve that my relationship with time has diminished from what it once was. I share my time with many in ministry, leftovers going to my family with little for just being with God in silence.
Thank you–I too spent most of my time in ministry with my family getting the leftovers. During this time of transition, I needed to hear that part of the gift is to devote my time to my family.
I am old although I do not feel very old. I think I will not have time to finish what I want to do and am often wondering if it is what God wants me to do. What should I clear out, stop doing, to find out? I am a writer and often in my writing I know myself better. I forget to stop working, I enmesh myself in business and don’t hear or see what God is saying to me. Time is not my enemy, I am.
The constant companion I seem to take for granted.
Time to breath, think and reflect don’t feel as automatic as when I was a child. Responsibilities overwhelm how I perceive my time should be spent. I am looking forward to this Lenten series as I have scheduled time to read, watch, think and write about time.
Having worked in some rather frenetic posts in education I used to burn the candle at both ends – feeling that if I didn’t then disaster would befall – maybe I was too driven, somehow unable to let go. As I an older person, through the grace of God I have a more healthy outlook. Now, I find I ‘need’ more time than previously to get the same ‘jobs’ done! I am now more able to discern when to say ‘no’ to demands on my time. I dislike wasting time – I pray that I will make the most of the time that I have left to me and that I will use that time to the greater glory of God.
I to find time as I grow older more precious. Some days it is difficult to use it for ordinary things, washing dishes, making meals when I could be walking with God.
I suppose there is a balance there somewhere and it may be worth finding. Then again maybe not.
Jill, I think God is no less in the”ordinary” things: we can “walk with God” while engaged in these things maybe as well as at other more contemplative times. The important thing is not time, it is God.
I tap, tap, tap away through the many periods allocated to various tasks. It seems never ending. Time is in charge of me,
May I ask for prayers to be convinced and see the need and ability to change & become balanced. I wonder is it only the spirit if God inside that can cause this deep & permanent change towards perfection?
Conflicted relationship with time.
Always rushing and searching for ways to find more time. Life is too, too busy and the people I love and things I enjoy don’t get my time. Work gets my time, and even though I am conscious that I’m not spending time on what matters, I can’t find a way to change things and still do my job well.
It’s my time with God which is precious, & it saddens me when sometimes that time seems to get squeezed out,
My prayer this Lent is to put God first.
Time is something that I am am always battling with just to keep up. As sole caretaker for three people (adult autistic daughters and husband with dementia), it’s hard to slow down. I strive to find moments just to “be”, and they are precious, but far too few and far between.
There is indeed a lot on your plate. (I have a cousin with an adult autistic son.) May you feel a gift of grace and may others come as needed to walk alongside you in your daily challenges.
NA,
I do indeed feel that gift of grace, and despite (or maybe because of) my challenges I feel incredibly blessed . My church family walks beside me, and I value that community and they value me. My mantra: “Be Still and Know That I Am God” (Psalm 46:10). That way I never walk alone.
Amen!
Judy, your note made me weep. When I was taking care of my very ill husband I found myself wondering when I would have some time to call my own. Now, I would give anything to have him back, to nurse him, but he is gone and I thank God that his suffering ended. But to contemplate what you are going through is beyond my capacity. I pray you will continue to be strong and to find time to be.
Will keep you and your family in my prayers !!!
I pray you find a way to
give yourself a break…
A person to assist and/or a place to go that offers support.
My relationship to time is complicated, conflicted. Sometimes…..or should that be ‘some of my time’ seems like a blessing, wraps warm around me, comforts me, holds me, opens a window to God for me.
But other times, oh those other times!!! That’s when time glowers at me, shunts me, jostles me, pushes me to the edge. Those other times time is my enemy and must be wrestled with……there’s not enough of it, it won’t stretch where I need it to go…or maybe I’ve just wasted it, frittered it away.
So…complicated, conflicted, gift and curse, that’s how I feel right now about time……….but I pray that for all of us starting this Lenten journey that the time we spend with it will be a blessing. X
Never enough time and anxiety over wasting time.
Time is always a challenge. My work has turned into a host of time measured tasks or jobs. My contribution to my workplace is measured by time/efficiency. This only reinforces the enemy in time. Then I fight for time for myself but then I feel bad for wanting that. I need time but do I really want it or deserve it? That is the predicament I find myself in.
Time or my attention to it, takes up too much space inn my day. I want back the graced openings in my struggles to go with the FLOW of my days as I was pre Parkinsons.
…my ‘relationship’ to time is of the finite nature…
I want to believe that God did not impart the gift of time for us to suffer angst about. If we use it in the name of love, for God and for our neighbors, we’ve got it–not to worry.
Time is something I am always battling with, seems I don’t have enough of it , but on the other hand I get so busy that time flies by and I don’t have time to get wrapped up in the problems of this world or in my own problems, sometimes I find it hard to grieve or find time to be with God.
For me, this series couldn’t be more “timely” – sorry, pun intended. My own relationship to time is disordered, swinging between the tyranny of the to-do list and squandering my “free” time on mindless distractions because I’m too tired and resentful to use it well. From the other comments here, it seems I’m not alone. I’m looking forward to learning from this series.
I can completely relate Lauren. I am loving this idea of thinking of time as a gift though. While it’s great to think of as a gift to us, I like that it puts me as something I can give to others. Something I might normally be resentful to do is much easier to do with a cheerful heart if I think of time I spend doing it a gift to someone I love to spare them the time. Best regift ever.
Great response–I couldn’t agree more/
I retired at the end of October,2014. Prior to retirement, I had a very demanding job and worked 10 to 12 hour days. I’m single which means that all of the household chores fell on my shoulders. I would be exhausted each evening when I got home from work, so most of the time chores/errands fell on the weekends. It seemed almost impossible to keep Sunday as a holy day when laundry, grocery shopping, etc. still needed to be done. Now I’m retired and live 2,000 miles away from my former home. I’ve been in my new home/community for a little over two months and am still settling in. One of the biggest adjustments has been having so much free time. Sometimes I feel like I’m wasting time, not using it in a productive way. I hope this program will be of help to me in learning what using time wisely really means to me!
As a person who is disabled and who has been unable to find paid employment for most of my life, I hear you when you say you feel like you have too much time now.
I eventually learned how to stop trying to measure my use of time to what the “normal” working world/non-disabled world does, and looked for ways to creatively fill my own time, ideally doing something that’s useful for others.
As soon as I decided my time was best spent volunteering, offering to help another person or share knowledge when I see another person in need, it became very easy to fill time.
There’s not one day that’s the same as another. On any given day I could be volunteering, going to church, going to hear a lecture, going to a friend’s place (even in another city) to help them out or cheer them up if they feel low. It could be doing research on the Internet to find useful information to contribute to social advocacy projects, it could be going to a lecture to learn, watching an educational You Tube video (I don’t have a TV), or it could be volunteering, one-on-one to do some other positive pursuit.
I can’t think of filling time with things to spoil myself. It always has to be something useful – that will ideally help someone else smile!
Dear Jane
I too have just retired after 41 years teaching in London Schools and Colleges. I am on my own living in the house I grew up in !I Three months into retirement I am finding it extremely difficult to adapt to having so much time and the freedom to do with it what I wish . For the last 41 years my time has been structured in 90 minute lessons controlled by the bell !!
I also miss the company of young people as I struggle to build community and friends in my home town which is 60 miles from London. I have thrown myself into everything going University of third age , Rock Choir, National Women’s register walking groups charity work and the gym … but something is missing I don’t “feel” connected . I hope this series of talks and reflections will help me move to a place where I feel I belong .
Good luck with your journey …you are not alone .
I’m with Lauren
It’s like you read my mind. You said exactly what I feel.
It sounds like you are speaking for me, too. My relationship with time is disordered, also. There are two kinds of time–a vast poetic timelessness I can tap into when I relax that feels and is quite healing. But then there is my relationship to daily time which is totally disordered. I waste it with things like Facebook (ironically, where I found this forum) and then never have enough of it for things I must or should do.
I have, though, come to the conclusion that we need a certain amount of ‘wasted time’ where we just goof off and are not ‘productive’ but I think I waste too much of mine and then later regret it.
As a musician I have a complicated relationship with (or within) time – it’s the stuff of the craft, if you will, and must be managed strictly yet in a relaxed and very conscious way. After years in the music business, I grew used to interpreting 8:00 pm as 7:40. This habit unfortunately leads me into showing up too early for all social engagements, much to the embarrassment of self, wife and hosts….
On the other hand, one’s time is a gift one can give to family, friends, the church community, and the life of the mind. It’s easier to “give” rather than “take” time for these things of real value.
I like the idea of giving time to something rather than taking time.
This is lovely! Thank you.
Giving is always better than taking–but when you take, do it with grace/
Interesting thoughts about music and time. As a psychotherapist, I have an interesting relationship with time as well. I am deeply involved with someone’s emotional processing, yet I have to keep cued into the time. One year, I gave up wearing a watch for Lent, that worked for my office where I have a clock. But, my first home visit, I suddenly realized I needed to have the watch!
Time is taken for granted in my life. It is not recognized as a gift. I frequently am frustrated by time constraints and stressed by adherence to time scheduled activities. I appreciate the freedom of unscheduled time which is ironic as I often unrealistically attempt to do more and more
Ahh Sherry, I disagree. You are here, a life, a gift of God in the field of time, another gift of God, and with a choice ( free will ) to spend your allotted time as you see fit, still another gift. Use it.
I just left Facebook after 6 years because it was taking too much of my time. I’m left wondering what I should do with that time i got back? Hopefully we’ll get instructions on how to take wasted time and put it to better use?
I also just left Facebook for waht seems an eternity, but was really more like 6 years. When I inactivated my account, I told people I would see them again on Easter – maybe. Facebook is a vampire, devovuring time better spent elsewhere. I lived without it before. If I find I can live without it again, I may not bother to go back.
I totally agree…when did it
happen that I fell victim to pieces of plastic & metal made by man? Thusly allowing time to slip away.And now, I shall go back in time, in order that I may find real time…to make a difference.
Balancing having a life and the time I must and do spend in caregiving for my husband! Also when I do get relieve fitting in all I want to do in the allotted time given away from him by the family member or friend who gives me time.
Many years ago, I took at Prayer Journal Workshop and I learned to hear God’s answer to my questions as I write the “answer” to a question in my journal. What I heard today is that the question for me is “What is my relationship to God?”
I feel time rushing by. It is like a stream roaring instead of a placid Lake.
cheryl, let me suggest a poem that might help: “Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold.
I struggle with time, never seeming to have enough. When I take an honest look at how I spend my time; I do not spend wisely. I’m looking to reclaim quality time with family.
I have begun making crosses from found objects and as I made a prayer space in my home I hung the cross made from driftwood and found that the space was suddenly real and I can stop and pause any time of the day to stand quietly before the cross.
Love that! I have a prayer space too – time belongs to it and envelopes me when I sit there…
I am dealing with a neurological brain disorder, the source of which has been identified, but for which there is no diagnosis or prognosis. I’m told that the quality of my life is up to me, which means eliminating stress and getting control of my time. I know what I need to do but being on crutches with spinal stenosis has frustrated my attempts to put my life in order and gain control of my time is too frequently spent dealing with extreme physical pain. I know that with God’s help I will get well and enjoy His grace
I relate in some ways as my illness is debilitating…not pain, but deep fatigue and loss of use of my arms and aerobic capacity and is yet undiagnosed. I’ve decided that instead of giving up something I enjoy for Lent, I’m going to play my violin for 5 min.s a day and the thing I’ll be giving up is the idea that I should be able to practice vigorously, hours a day, as I once did….the idea that things should be different before I can be living again. This moment, as it is, is what we have and the opportunity to embrace it fully with whatever we have. I can’t imagine dealing with pain as you are, but you are here and every little thing counts..is enough… for God is enough when we aren’t and simply can’t. I take great comfort knowing God knows and our times are in His healing hands.
Blessings on all those with afflictions that burn up their time. I, on the other hand, am the Energizef Bunny. Could I use my time more peacefully and more with God? Yes! So thank you for hopefully starting a process.
Tim, May the peace of God, which passes all understanding be with you.
Tim and Les, I’m praying for you daily. May God look upon you, and all his children, with compassion and mercy, giving hope, freedom from pain, anxiety and stress, and opening all to the true joys of abundant life through Christ.
I find that i am very aware of time, I always know what time it is. Even in the middle of the night when I wake up I am usually not far off when I look at the clock. Time is an anchor for me, keeping me in the present moment. It is a friend.
I also find, as I am making my life simpler, less busy, that I often have too much time and am not valuing it. This precious gift. I very much look forward to this lenten exploration.
I find myself not concerned that much about time and suddenly I am running behind or late. This includes giving myself plenty of time to make an appointment or event and then diddling around which makes me late. Further, I often think of time as an endless continuum and have very unrealistic expectations of what I can fit into an afternoon or session. I would truly like to have a better “sense of time.”
I’m right there with you, Jay! I am extremely chronologically challenged. I seemingly have enough time to get ready and get out the door, but I find myself attending to something that most probably can wait till later or tomorrow, and voila, I’m late again. I heard it once said that folks like us are adrenaline junkies. We need that rush of being late in order to feel alive and ready for the day ahead. For me, I think there is some truth to that. I am hoping this series will help me find ways to focus on what truly needs to be done now and to not get distracted by all those e-mails in my inbox and the myriad tasks on my to do list. And most importantly, I want to find my “rush” in my ongoing relationship with God!
As I approach the end of my life Time takes on a different meaning to me. At least a greater value.
All my life there has always been plenty of time – if you didn’t finish what you are doing now it could be finished later. So taking an excursion into some other aspect of the work at hand was Okay.
Now there is less time – but there is still the compulsion – the temptation – to dwell on some mundane aspect of the work at hand. The challenge is to limit my efforts to what is really important.
Time is a current that never stops though is power and speed seem to vary. I swim in it, with the current, and sometimes rest near the riverbank.
Time is paradoxical for me, sometimes zipping by so quickly that I’m astonished yet other times dragging slowly because I want it to be that special occasion.
As a 70+ I’m trying to take in my surroundings/activities to relish and not rush through life’s moments as I have so frequently in the past.
Thank you.
Time can be lonely.
It can. I pray for you that it not be.
It’s hard to get started on a project because of fear it will not be good enough. I over think it and become anxious.
I am aware of time. I have certain tasks
that I have imposed on myself that are time related. I am grateful I have the time to do the things I enjoy doing.
Time is very important to me and I always try to be punctual. However, in my retirement I have more free time, but I find that I am not always using it wisely. This Lent I am striving to use more time for pray and reflection and less time for other things.
Time is a real challenge for me–finding time to get my work done, do some physical exercise, household responsibilities, and some time for reflection/stillness/prayer. And I am a one-person household.
An experience last spring taught me that “wasting time” isn’t necessarily that. I was very depressed, on sabbatical, and returning from a month doing research in India, I did absolutely nothing for 3-4 months. Mostly I binge watched netflix and Amazon videos all day. If someone organized a hike, I went on it, but I didn’t take any initiative on my own. Toward the end of that period I did start exercising again. When the fall semester started, I was no longer depressed. I think I needed a “time out” to not fully engage with the world and I returned to it, refreshed and excited about living. I don’t recommend binge-watching shows as a “cure” for anything, but I also don’t think those months involved wasted time.
A love/hate relationship is what I have with time. Sometimes I have too much and waste it. Sometimes I have too little and haste through it. Also, the time of my life seems so insignificant when I think of the whole grand scheme of things. So why should I even be concerned. I guess because I’ve always thought it is better to be aware (even of the bad stuff in life) than to be blissfully unaware. But then, if I were unaware, I might be “getting more out of” my time. What a conundrum!
I follow you. I have recently quit reading the newspaper and listening to TV/radio news, and I have more time for more meaningful things, plus I am not weighed down by tons of “bad news”. I also have the same question that you have about the wisdom of remaining “blissfully unaware”, but my inner life is thriving and I have much less general anxiety, surely a plus. How much are we just being manipulated by the news media to serve some agenda of their own?
I have a more balanced life since I’ve retired, though the “urgent but unimportant” can readily keep me from doing the “important but not so urgent,” and I can feel guilty about sitting down with a book, or even playing the piano, when there are things still undone on my endless list. I am trying to make some time to visit with a shut in, or a sick friend – or to pick up the phone, or write a note be part of my daily life.
Mornings I like to do Morning Prayer and Centering Prayer and then volunteer commitments.
Afternoons I like to use my time for singing, creating a photo card, aerobic dancing with Richard Simmons and reading. I like to talk to God about each activity and thank God for all things.Closing my day with Evening Prayer wraps it all up.
I have decided to think seriously about what I do with my time this lent. I do waste an inordinate amount of this precious gift. And never seem to have enough. So I have decided that at least for breakfast and lunch to sit in my garden, eat slowly and appreciate what God has given me right here in my own garden.
More thoughts on time from negative to positive and then to holy: Everything always takes more time than you think. There is a time for everything. Things happen in their own time, when the time is right. Can’t rush time. Time is holy. I have to admit I never thought of time as holy.
I am always in the past or the future.
I recently saw a Keith Haring work that showed a person being pulled by each limb from a different direction. Often, that is how I feel, but this is a relationship driven more by self-expectations than by external forces beyond my control.
spending too much of my time keeping up to appointments
I had never thought of time as a gift but it is. Time can not be bought or sold but we often do not use it wisely. We make the decision as to how we will use this gift. We can squander it or use it wisely. The choice belongs to each of us.
Since I retired several years ago I thought I would have an abundant amount of time… Not so, I have many “things” to do and am busier than when I worked. I believe I no longer have my time organized because ‘there is always tomorrow’ to start, work on, or finish a project.
Wonderful reflection and most fiting entry into Lent. Time as a gift given by God for good stewardship. Thanks for this reminder.
I feel that I both wast time and don’t have enough, usually both at the same time.
Time often feels like a disapproving parent, letting me know that I am wasting what I only have a certain amount of. At my age, I miss the feeling that there would be time to do whatever I might aspire to. Because I am overwhelmed by what I perceive I should be accomplishing, I don’t accomplish what I do have time to do.
Time is definitely a challenge. Even though I am retired, I remain active in a variety of pursuits and find that I can often be stretched a bit thin. I look forward to those rare days that I can spend a full day at home doing whatever appeals at the time!
Time does not exist: God gave us change and we measure change by units of time. It is change we must deal with, not “time.” (If all change stopped would time go on?).
Change for me happens too fast for me to deal with. But, I can stop change by being in the moment — closing my eyes and listening to the birds and to the sound of my breathing, feeling the sun on my face. I am then one with infinity.
Time is beginning to end – and I’m more and more excited! Don’t worry – I don’t need therapy. I helped found a hospice and worked almost 29 years in it, having 2 possibly lethal cancers myself over those later years. During all of my adult life I’ve been very active in the church – an exciting, frustrating, wonderful journey which taught me, and supported me. I do NOT know what is on the other side of the veil, but I’m not afraid. I will be judged for my sins – more severely I suspect because of my faith and access to some wonderful guides whom I did not always seek out as I should have. Still, I know my Father and Brother understand why I acted as I did and will judge me in mercy. Their “punishments” will/have fit my crimes and the quality of my actions after those sins. As with all of us, the remaining discipline will be only to purify my soul. I accept that with joy.
Now, I am on a quest to find how to use whatever time I have left. All I know is that it must be to my Father’s glory. (And I need more time to add all your names to my prayer list!) Blessing upon you all.
To me time is a gift — I treasure it and try to let it fold me round as often as I can. I often tell people one of the great gifts of a silent retreat is the sense of leisure, the sense of space, the slow rhythm of the hours. I begin each day with an hour or so of contemplative practice, something I have done for perhaps 35 years and something I am by now simply unable not to do. I also have periods of prayer during the day that I keep regularly, though the actual hour of the keeping may vary with other commitments. (My morning practice doesn’t vary because my life practice has been to rise early enough to have the leisure I want, and need. This means that I go to bed by 9:00 and rise at 5:30 or 6:00, a luxury of choice I didn’t have when my family was young and I was teaching! During those years, my early morning prayer was limited to 30-40 minutes but even this shorter time was precious,and daily valued.
I treasure time, but struggle with what I allow to fill it! Trying to spend time on what is important!
Everything I do is in God’s time, not mine. When people ask when will a certain event happen, I reply in God’s time, according to God’s will and plan for my life.
Never enough time for all the things I’d like to accomplish in a day /week. But making an effort to also just spend time in contemplation. Also, tend to waste too much time on listening to the news and other topics on the radio, watching tv etc.
Hope to improve my use of time.