My husband and I comment fairly frequently about the amount of time spent watching TV, playing video games, listening to music on iPods and surfing the Internet. “It’s that great sucking sound,” my husband often comments, “of valuable time being sucked away.”
I don’t feel exceptionally vulnerable to such medias. I listen to TV more than watch it. I’m not a video gamer because the images move too fast and the game controllers have a confusing number of buttons to push and pull. I certainly enjoy music, but these days prefer that it play in the background. This preference means I no longer stuff ear buds into my ears and zone out in my own little world like I did in high school and college. And I certainly have my favorite haunts on the Internet, but I’ve learned to quickly gather the information I desire.
In spite of my personal efforts to avoid media overuse, I literally camped out in front of our new TV on Tuesday to take in the coverage of President Obama’s inaugural activities. Without reservation, I enjoyed every minute of what I saw. My husband became a couch potato with me and we celebrated with the nation. After playing with the new remote, we eventually found a high-definition channel and marveled at the color and clarity of the images. We also recalled our own experience attending the inauguration of Bill Clinton in 1994 and what it felt like to stand out in the winter cold with millions of other Americans. We recall tangible goodwill. Optimism. Energy. If you’re not connected or have made significant financial contributions, you’ll not get to see many of the headliner entertainers. And yet we still regard our experience as a rare privilege. It was a joy this week to walk for a few moments in those memories.
And now we have before us this wonderful time of possibility. The dreaming must be limited; the hard work must commence. And as my husband and I sat together, we began a dialog about how we intend to view our time and how we will fill it this year. We began to ask each other some questions: What are we spending the majority of our time doing? Are we spending our time wisely? Are we always saying we will get to things but never do? Do we write off as impossible things that can be done if we will eliminate the fanfare and simply dig in, instead?
According to a recent university study, the average American couple spends no more than five minutes each day talking about something of substance. Children and fathers less than 15 each day. These conversations include exchanging ideas that will promote clearer understanding, cohesiveness and love as opposed to directions, requests and instruction.
And if we are using our hearts for less than 20 minutes each day to communicate with those we see on a regular basis, I wonder where extended family members fit in? Friends? And God?
If you are anything like me, I am not always readily receptive to adding another activity, much less a set of expectations, to an already busy schedule. It is easy to feel overwhelmed by a self-imposed list of “shoulds.” But lately I have been wondering how much time I waste contemplating and planning. When a good idea comes to mind, what about just doing it?
I call it the five-minute nugget and it is bringing a new sense of accomplishment and anticipation to my day when I have a lot scheduled and I need something to mentally and emotionally refresh me.
It goes like this: Make the best of five whole minutes and see what happens. Adjust your thinking around the idea that something done quickly and intensely is satisfying to you and meaningful to the person involved. It will not alter your schedule for the day. It will not take much planning. More often than not it will cost very little.
Need to touch base with someone special? Send a text message. Stick a note in a lunch. Leave an encouraging message on someone’s voice mail. Send a card. Give a back rub. Stop and talk in the aisle of a grocery store. Read a story to your child. Clear the dishwasher or put some clothes away. Make someone else’s bed. Smile and wave. Pay a compliment. Tape an encouraging note to the bathroom mirror.
Need to get in touch with God? Grab a cup of coffee and read a small passage of Scripture. Pray for someone or something you are concerned about. Write regularly in a journal and routinely look back to see what God has done with your past concerns.
Take your lunch and park by the beach to take in the natural beauty that surrounds us. Listen to music. Pray with a friend over the phone. Open a book you’ve highlighted and read through passages that have inspired you in the past.
“Killing time takes practice,” author Karen Elizabeth Gordon once wrote. I wonder how much time I have killed by belittling those wonderful five-minute opportunities. Faithful living means being available to ourselves, to God and to those around us. May we all go about it five small minutes at a time.
Joan Bay Klope is a freelance writer and speaker who makes her home on Whidbey Island. Her award-winning column has run for 12 years in Western Washington newspapers. E-mail comments and speaking requests to faithfulliving@hotmail.com.
