Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Victorious Living

Home
Family, Parenting and Religion
We Waste So Much Time

We Waste So Much Time

Last updated on: September 7, 2019 at 11:22 pm by Victorious Living

We Waste So Much Time 2019-09-07T23:22:21-04:00 Victorious Living

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

We roll out of bed in the morning and a good chunk of our day becomes avoidance. We hit the snooze and go back to sleep. Our days are spent in benign conversation and menial tasks. The clock ticks like a judges gavel. We watch television and get drunk because we can’t think of better things to do.

In short, we are experts at wasting time. Our moments pass us by and we yawn at them, waving complacently. The primary focus of humans is to survive each unit of time. We’ve worked hard to create structures and means to keep us alive. And although those can be tragically interrupted at any second, the vast majority of our units are spent in relative safety.

Yet there is a longing in each of us. A longing for more. It is like an itch we are not sure how to scratch, viewed mostly as a nuisance, an irritant. But it isn’t going anywhere.

Just A Little About Everything

The trick to wasting time is to stay busy and to stay on the surface. We value knowing just a little bit about everything. If someone asks us “have you heard of Nietzsche” or “Jackson Pollock” or “The Fighting Tuesdays”, we are always tempted to say yes, even when the answer is no. It is embarrassing not to know everything. When confronted with an artist, an athlete, a politician or piece of legislature, or any host of other things we know nothing about, we either try to cover it up or fix it.

The problem is we are trying to know a little bit about everything but we don’t really know anything. Have you ever overheard two people talking at a coffee shop and it just sounds so ridiculous, so tedious? They’re talking about makeup or social media rivals or some other nonsense. The only difference between them and you is familiarity.

What Without A Why

Our society is a group of people searching for a what without a why. We just want something to do. Now. For a minute. Something that will be fun and engaging but won’t take too much of a commitment. We want to be able to move to the next what. We find a semblance of distraction by jumping from one thing to the next.

The thing that is missing from our lives is purpose. A truly meaningful why.

We get into political rants or passionate conversations about sports. We talk about our whats as if they are whys, and we waste so much time.

There is a part of us that is longing for the truth. We are longing for meaning, for something that matters. Each moment is an opportunity to engage in the meaningful endeavor or life. But we waste them in futile attempts to avoid failure and quell our fear.

Values

The transformation only happens when we start to truly explore our values. Values are the lifeline for our meaninglessness, a rope in our quicksand. They provide a way out. The rescue from our superficial monotony is an exploration of what really matters to us and how to engage in it through the circumstances of our lives.

The real kicker here is that wasting time is not about what we are doing. It is not that watching television or talking about fashion are inherently meaningless. Values, however, color our whats with a why. They bring meaning, purpose, and intention to what we do each day. Naming our values helps us to root out what we are doing that just doesn’t really matter and reframe what does matter under a proper and useful heading.

Previous Post

March 8, 2019

How to Escape The Victim Circle

Next Post

March 13, 2019 It Is Hard to Be a Human

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Choices Conflict Resolution Culture Change Emotions Failure Faith Fear Freedom V Growth Healthy Communication Hope Identity Influence Leadership Learn Mistakes Mood Curve Ownership Perspective Power Relationships Self-Awareness Self-Governance Systems Thinking Three Things You Control Transformational Leadership Trust Truth Uncategorized Values Vision

Select a Month January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Comfort, comfort my people! Prepare the way in the wilderness for the Lord. Whose voice cries out this message?

Select your answer to see how you score.

John the Baptist Jesus Jeremiah Isaiah

Books by This Author Books by Victorious Living

See All Titles »