We waste too much time

Today it dawned on me.  We waste too much time.  No, I'm not talking about the waste that goes on when we get up and mill around in the mornings.  I'm not talking about wasting time, as when we sit like couch potatoes on the couch on Saturday and Sunday during football season.  Really, I'm not even bashing any of those activities.  No, I'm saying we actually wast too much time pursuing things and do things that have no real value and don't really matter.

We spend a lot of time working to be the best in a career that only lines someones pockets, but does nothing for the environment.  We spend time creating solutions to problems, without thinking about the fact that the solution and the problem are manufactured.  Or we churn night and day to solve problems in technology that are the direct result of a technologically induced problem.  We talk about solving issues with crops and food sources that were created by previous ideas for improving crop yields and farm land.  Seriously, as I reflect these are only even the tip, the very tip of the iceberg of our waste.  But even as black as these wastes are, that's not what I want to focus on.

Deeply, I think that we waste too much time hiding our gifts instead of using them wisely.  Sure, there are the rocket scientists, the astrophysicist, the computer wiz, the medical revolutionary, the refreshing throwback artist, the grand master performer and the talented athlete.  However, these few gifted people applying their gifts and talents are only a mere fraction of those who are gifted.  The whole world has been gifted.  However, much of the world keeps these gifts buried behind walls and walls of boredom and safety.  The difference between the Nobel Peace Prize winner, the IT multi-millionaire inventor and you is probably a lot less than you think.  In fact it might be the short distance between the words passion and lack of passion.  We waste too much timing filling our time with pursuits that we are not passionate about.  As a result our gifts, talents and in some cases our very lives are wasted. 

We all waste too much time pursuing the safety of 9 - 5, or careers that put 3 squares on the table and a nice four bedroom 3 bath roof over our heads.  We all waste too much time trying to blend in, without realizing that we were made to stand out.  We weren't made to look like the Jonesses or even keep up with them.  If anything, they should be trying to keep up with you.  You have a fire, a passion an interest that yearns to be set free and can only be quenched by the gifts God has given you.  

We waste our time.  We want to be careful, conservative and safe.  We don't want people to know that we love purple hair, crazy colored socks, cooking for others, and caring for seniors and children.  We take that corner office graphic artist gig, because mom said, "find something that pays the bills."  Meanwhile every time our eyes and hearts are set ablaze when we see that perfect sunset, that innocent child and that iconic moment that we'd love to capture - if only we weren't running off to the mundane meeting to sketch designs for the next ad campaign of 'Tasty Treats', or the next vision meeting for a dog that won't hunt!  

Now, I'm not saying everyone turn in the badge for some boots and a knapsack and start hitching the rail cars.  But, hear me out.  I am saying that someone should know that that it breaks your heart to see the homeless, that education means more to you than getting a degree, that you can create a video game with unlocking levels, but you can also write code that will one day unlock the mystery to defeating cancer.  

Really, we need to stop wasting so much time with pursuits that won't amount to a hill of beans and start pursuing something that will have eternal value and a legacy well beyond our days.  Start with being passionate about God, then ask him to help you find the thing in this world that he wants you to be passionate about until he returns.  And stop wasting your time.

P.S.  What do you think?

--- Cassius Rhue "Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.'" (Job 28:28)

Thought for the week [09.15.2013]: And what did it cost God to become our Father? His only-begotten Son. The infinite delight of his infinite heart. Betrayed, beaten, scourged, mocked, spit on, nailed, stripped, and forsaken. How much our Father loves us!