Wasted Time

There is nothing like the feeling at the end of a day, a week, a month, a season...or even a carpool line...that you have just been wasting your time. I've got to admit that is how I felt a little while ago when I realized that it was 8:30 p.m. and I was not sure what I had accomplished since 6:00 a.m. when I woke up. It did not just hit me at 8:30 p.m., but about 10 times during the day. Just what have I been doing?

I woke up this morning and prayed for a half hour...then kissed my lovely wife good morning (a few times). I hugged all of our children, then took 3 of them to school. I stopped for coffee and made someone smile. I stopped to turn in a mission trip form and fellowshipped a few moments with some cool people. Got the mail and said good morning to a few 'grouchy' looking people. Went to the bank and was met by a 2 smiling tellers. Read some news on my e-mail, then prayed some more for people in our congregation, missionaries, a seminary president...etc.

A little later, I paid some bills and then read the Bible (something I did not understand very well). So I picked up a book on the passage from the desk that the author had given me and began to understand what I had read. I got to help the vending machine guy fix the machine in our building and prayed with a woman (whom I did not know) who had just lost her husband last week. Then I spent 2 hours with a neat young couple who are following God's plan for their lives.

Rushing to my next thing, I stopped (at 1:45 p.m.) for a quick combo at Jack in the Box that wasn't so quick. I let a guy go in front of me...who proceeded to ask for 2 'Jack' toys to give to his parents who were visiting from out of the country. I learned patience. Then I sat in a carpool line...talked with some old friends...and then sat in another car pool line...talking to my kids. I got to come home and start dinner, then go exchange my son's tennis shoes, buy 3 kids some ice cream (I resisted), and buy my (almost) 7 year old her first piano book (for me to teach her).

Then it was a rush to gymnastics class where we met mom who had been working...then off to the skating rink so Kara could go to her school's first outing. Quickly, we zipped to the High School to pick up the oldest...on the way to which I got to have a great conversation with Jared. Few words came out of the 15 year old after 10 1/2 hours at school, then home to finish dinner and sit down with 5 out of 6 around the table. Cleaning up...then a few minutes reading e-mails and then explaining my blog to a 13 year old who thought my picture was distorted.

Well, it's 9:30 p.m. and I hope to have a few minutes with 'mama' if we can get the last of math, algebra, Spanish, history, and English out of the way. I guess it was a 'wasted' day. I only spent time with God, my wife, my kids, a widow, a missionary, and some guy buying dumb toys for his international parents. I hope I can waste some more time tomorrow.