A week ago I lay in bed and listened to Thought for the Day, given by Vicky Beeching. As usual she was very down-to-earth. She was talking about our culture of success and activity, and quoted Henri Nouwen: "Being busy has become a status symbol."
"Nouwen suggests that instead of assuming time is simply there to be filled, we should purposefully leave some of it open. Unplanned. Unstructured. Available for spontaneity and imagination. He argues that by adding this into our lives, we become more flexible, compassionate and present.
"When every minute is scheduled to the hilt, interruptions are annoying. But by building in a margin of flexibility, we’re able to make time and space for others. Nouwen argues that when we do that, what previously would have seemed like 'interruptions' may turn out to be our most meaningful opportunities of the day – the chance to show hospitality to an unexpected visitor, to stop and help a lost person on the street, or just notice the beauty in the world around us.
"Of course time-management and productivity have an important place in our lives. But without balance they become unhealthy and unsustainable. In today’s society, leaving unstructured time in our schedules can feel like a countercultural act. Yet the rewards of renewed energy and imagination may make those times the most productive thing we do all week."
Now I'm inclined to fill my time, with social media, iPlayer, YouTube, music, reading and so on. That evening Jane read this verse to me where Jesus talks to the Samaritan woman, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink’, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water” (John 4). And I had the picture of rows of drinks cans. It struck me that I'm prone to fill myself with cans of spiritual fizzy drink, rather than living water. And I'm under no illusions which is better for me, which is the stuff of life. So I'm going to try again to provide space to let in some living water - or perhaps let it in and out. Just to be quiet with God.
PS Today Vicky was even more challenging in her Thought this morning, which isn't yet on line.
2 comments:
This beautiful poem I read recently covers some of what you are saying Michael?
The Garments of God
by Jessica Powers
God sits on a chair of darkness in my soul.
He is God alone, supreme in His majesty.
I sit at his feet, a child in the dark beside Him;
my joy is aware of His glance and my sorrow is tempted
to nest on the thought that His face is turned from me.
He is clothed in the robes of His mercy, voluminous garments
not velvet or silk and affable to the touch,
but fabric strong for a frantic hand to clutch,
and I hold to it fast with the fingers of my will.
Here is my cry of faith, my deep avowal
to the Divinity that I am dust.
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Here is the loud profession of my trust.
I will not go abroad
to the hills of speech or the hinterlands of music
for a crier to walk in my soul where all is still.
I have this potent prayer through good or ill:
here in the dark I clutch the garments of God
Yes, you're right, Ann.
"I will not go abroad
to the hills of speech or the hinterlands of music
for a crier to walk in my soul where all is still." Something I need to practise.
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