Killing Time
How do I kill time?
Let me count the ways.
By worrying about things
over which I have no control.
Like the past.
Like the future.
By harboring resentment
and anger
over hurts
real or imagined.
By disdaining the ordinary
or, rather, what I
so mindlessly
call ordinary.
By concern over what’s in it for me,
rather than what’s in me
for it.
By failing to appreciate what is
because of might-have-beens,
should-have-beens,
could-have-beens.
These are some of the ways
I kill time.
Jesus didn’t kill time.
He gave life to it.
His own.
—Leo Rock, SJ, in Hearts on Fire: Praying with Jesuits
I just read the time chapter in his book Making Friends with Yourself. Life-giving! He died in 1998 just 8 years after this book but his Jesuit contribution lives on.
Wow! I want to put this up on my wall at work!
“What’s IN IT for me?”—the gain,the profit.
“What’s IN ME for it”. –All I have, which is all Yours,from You,God of Life, God of Time— to empty, to share. You gave ALL your OWN.
Even up to Now! Thank you. Amen!!
One of my favorites! ❤️ Thank you for posting….Great reminder.
Thank You!
I have never heard or read this poem/reflection before.
It is so insightful and adds a whole new level meaning and consequence to to a phrase we often think of as mere “mindless activity” while waiting for something more important to “happen.” It challenges and encourages me to a new level of personal freedom and mindfulness to act as a companion of Jesus. Thank you.
Our pastor read this poem during his homily today; it touched a place in my heart and I pray that it will touch many others who hear it this weekend.
This prayer changed my whole sense of direction for the day ahead. It encouraged me to think of what life I can bring to the day and I realized the only life I can bring to it will be available to the extent I am living in Christ–attached to the Vine. My great temptation each day is to think it’s all up to me. What a folly!
Thanks for this prayer. It remember us that Time is a very beautiful gift by God
Whew! I needed to hear that today!