Spending Time.

"When you kill time, remember that it has no resurrection" -A.W. Tozer
I absolutely love this quote. Because it is SO true! Time goes by sooo quickly. Especially when our lives are filled to the brim with crazy schedules of nothingness.
Nothingness? What do I mean by "Nothingness", you ask?
I'm talking about the things we spend time doing that do not build us up the way they ought to.
Of course, today, we think of our #1 time-murderers as Facebook, Twitter, Texting, you know. Things like that. And they absolutely are. There is no denying that at all.
There are also more subtle wastes of time, like shopping and other little pleasure activities we use to fill time with.
So we should just ditch all of it and meditate day and night. The end.
Just kidding! (hehehe)
No, the stuff isn't evil, we just don't need an overdose of it.
Here's a little lesson I learned yesterday-today and probably will continue learning until I get used to this new thing.
What new thing?
I am (or maybe, was?) one of those people that always seems to be online. The little green chat light just always seems to be shining away, you know? Well it was annoying me. It's not that all I ever do is sit on the computer and "like" things on Facebook. In fact, you rarely catch me sitting at the computer at all. I was accustomed to hopping on and offline while practicing guitar, or reading, or drawing. It was always multi-tasking. So I'm totally justified here. Just Kidding! (again)
Nope. I may have been doing more than just one thing, but by doing both things, my heart and mind couldn't completely be in one or the other. You know that scatter-brained feeling? Yeah. It's drives me insane.
And so, I decided to lay off the online-time. Especially during the day.
Here's how it went down.
Tuesday night I decided to change the whole schedule thing.
Wednesday morning I got up and by-passed the laptop, thinking, just for the morning. Then as the day went on, I was enjoying being outside (walking to the library!) and doing all sorts of things. Not things unusual for me, but now I was in them and enjoying them to the fullest.
And I didn't get around to computer time until I needed to message a friend, after the message, BAM. Offline and outside, for me.
And it feels so good, you know? Going out there in the sunshine. How amazing to just walk and admire God's handiwork. It's breathtaking.
Okay, I knew this before. I'm not a cave-dweller... I was just reminded of it, full force, and it's exciting.
So today, same thing. Barely touched the laptop til' now (except for earlier to use a guitar tab website but seriously there's no shame in that for me, because I legitimately need that, being that I'm teaching myself and all)
Anyway, so I've really been thinking about how I can use the time I am given wisely.
And I'm so excited! I've been loving reading God's word and writing things in my notebook and just trying to serve Him wherever, however, all the time.
Guess what? That's where joy comes from.
I'm not talking just about cutting back on social networking stuff, either.
The fact is, this really doesn't feel all that much different from before, I'm still doing the things I did before like everything I said before, guitar, reading, writing, walking, drawing, thinking, studying the bible, singing ;), attempting to write music, drinking coffee (lol), doing stuff with friends... I'm just more satisfied at the end of the day. More focused and in tune with God, I think. And it's only been two days!
And getting on Facebook tonight was somehow really not all that interesting at all.
So I thought I'd write a post here, instead, hahaha.
Anyway, my point is not that I'm super wonderful and am sacrificing the computer, or that I've been living as a total bum all this time, or that you should give up everything you do and attend a church service every night of the week and fast every day and fill your life with deep, meaningful things.
Because guess what? Deep, meaningful things, happen every day in the things you're doing.
It's just whether you take the time to appreciate them. Your child's laughter, the fluffy white clouds, the early flowers because of the extremely mild winter we've had...
It's where your heart is at in what you're doing, as much as what you're doing.

So yeah that's what's on the mind, lately.
Time, time, time.

Chels