Chaplain’s Corner: Savoring Life

Do we use our time to really live or do we allow time to use us up? I recently encountered this question in Kathleen Norris’ book, Acedia & Me and it was another reminder that the time we have is a gift from God. The way we use it matters. As a culture we sometimes worship at the altar of productivity. We boast of how many hours of overtime we put in this week or how little sleep we’re running on. We fill every evening with activities and when those brief moments of open time do appear, we pull out our phones.

Jesus was undoubtedly productive during his time on earth, yet it is worth noting how often in the Gospels Jesus withdraws to a quiet place to recharge or carves out time to spend with just the disciples. In a similar way he sought to reclaim the way Sabbath was meant to be observed: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).

Take some time this month to just “be,” and instead of feeling guilty about it, remember that we honor God’s gift of life by taking the time to truly savor it.