So just so you know, the best time to write a blog post is when you have a paper due in a few hours... at least that's what my brain thinks. :)
Woooo for procrastination! (Haaha ironic because of this blog topic...) Anyways, let's talk about summer and time, shall we?
At first, the hundreds of hours that we have in our freed-from-school lives seems like they could go on forever. But as we all know, time never quite works the way we want it to. For example, the last time I wrote on this blog was longer than a month ago...on one hand it seems like 10 years ago and on the other hand it legitimately feels like yesterday when I wrote that last post. I know you've all had experiences like that.
Time is always weird and always relative.
Summer just makes it 10 times worse because all the time available is less structured. And even if you have a super tightly structured job to get to everyday, you still have free time that you don't have to spend writing a paper or studying like you do in the school year when you're done with work. (Unless you're me and thought it was a good idea to take Philosophy over the summer for some unknown reason... )
What do YOU do with your free time?
It's almost dangerous.
I'm starting to realize that the days that I sit around watching Netflix are not only not helping me grow in any way, that time wasted is actually making me go backwards. Time is so so very precious and if we let time slip through our fingers mindlessly we're missing out on so many opportunities, so many chance to grow, and so many openings for learning. I've noticed the days I've take advantage of the time available to me in Godly, productive ways have been some of the most content days I've had this summer. I definitely feel growth when I use that extra 20 minutes to read the Bible or pray the rosary instead of staring at Pinterest like a zombie. And when I stare at Pinterest for that 20 minutes...well I definitely do feel like an empty zombie, and I definitely don't feel like I'm becoming the woman God wants me to be.
I'm not saying we shouldn't take advantages of all the amusing activities we have available to us now to relax and have simple fun...but we shouldn't let our weeks go without a second thought of where our time goes. If we waste the gift of time this summer, we shouldn't be surprised when we're less of the person we wanted to be by the time the new school year starts. We should learn to take advantage of this time to grow...in a strange way the summers between college semesters are just, if not more, as important as the semesters themselves. Most of us aren't taking classes for our majors over the summer, you're right. But we are coming home to the people we love who we have to get readjusted to. We have to re-learn how to listen to our parents wishes in a gracious and grown-up way. We have to learn to use our time even MORE wisely because we have so much more time available to us. (One can only hope we all can learn to use our time more wisely than freshman... let me tell you, I think pretty much anyone could be wiser than I was last year about time management.) We have to work. We have to make sure we're making Christ the center of everything, and doing what He wants for us over this break from school (and sometimes it's a chance to have a break from the real world too before we graduate... but that doesn't mean a break from God's wishes). It's hard to use our time in the right way. It's hard to not go to either extreme: lying in bed all day versus guilt tripping anyone who doesn't get to daily mass. We all have different battles to face this summer. But if you remember anything, remember that we only get a certain amount of time on this earth...and I bet that on your deathbed you're not going to say how much you wished you spent more time online... you're going to wish you had lived life to the fullest. And hopefully you and I will be able to say we did. It's gonna take effort, but it's going to be worth it. Promise.
Now...excuse me as I go attempt to write that paper. Philosophy papers should be good for growing into the person I was made to be, right? That's what I keep telling myself. ;)
I hope you all have amazing summers.
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." ~ John 10:10
"When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute - and it's longer than any hour. That's relativity." ~Albert Einstein
Blessings,
~Paula(:
