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How to Waste Time and Why It's Important

Somewhere along the line, I fear we’ve developed a mentality of ‘if we are not dedicating every single second of our day to some sort of specific and concrete evangelistic campaign, we are wasting our lives.’ And this indoctrination starts early. There are entire youth group lessons dedicated to convincing teens that fun is not all it is cracked up to be. At some point in the night, the youth pastor will pull out their ace in hole – an out of context quote of Ephesians 5:16, “making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil” – and it’s all over from there. From that night on, everyone feels guilty because they actually secretly like watching movies and/or reading books that don’t have verse numbers. Somewhere along the line, we’ve created a subculture that looks more like medieval monastics than the characters in the New Testament. We equate ‘fun’ with ‘wasting time,’ which, we all know, is the worst thing a true follower of Jesus could do.

But what if, by ‘wasting time,’ we are actually being more God-like than ever? What if, by spending time in the kitchen or out in the garden or seated at a piano or writing a poem or sharing a laugh with a loved one or diving into the imagination and writing skills used to author your current favorite book or finding a hobby that just fits or eating a really, really good burrito, we are actually being more in God’s image than when we are forcing ourselves to read that Christian inspirational book one more time?

This may seem anti-Lent, but this season, in essence, is about reclaiming the full and vibrant meaning of the cross, and a huge part of that is the beginning of restoration of all things. So if we are to not take for granted the grace of God, should we not be constantly looking for ways that we can see the beauty and power in all things? Should we not schedule our days with equal amount of time for “devotions” and drinking a brilliant cup of coffee? Because maybe to God, they are equally important.