Time Well Spent

Well, again, I want to say welcome to you.

My name's Kevin, one of the pastors here,

and I'm so glad that we're able to worship together,

both for those of you who are tuning in at home

and for those of you who are here in person.

It is a joy and a real privilege

to be able to preach this morning to you.

And I wanna begin this morning

with a story from my teenage years.

Back in high school, I became a Christian

through a ministry called Young Life.

It's a great organization.

And their mission is to share the gospel with kids

who are unchurched, kids like myself,

who would never have stepped foot inside a church

except for maybe at Christmas or a funeral.

I didn't grow up going to youth group,

but Young Life groups were what I imagined

to be a bit like a youth group,

except they're customized for rowdy, secular kids.

We would play some sort of game during our gatherings,

and we would sing a bunch of songs,

kind of like church.

And then a cool college student would stand up

and give a talk about Jesus.

When we would sing songs,

we would normally sing contemporary, upbeat pop songs.

But every now and again,

every four to six weeks or so,

we would sing this really sad song.

And it's a song that has always haunted me,

and I wanna read some of the lyrics for us.

It's Cats in the Cradle by Henry Chapin, or Chapin.

And the song tells the story of a dad

who means really well,

but he's just too busy to actually spend time

with his son.

And then his whole life passes him by,

and he misses out on his son's life.

We're gonna look at how the song begins

and how the song ends.

So this is the first verse.

My child arrived just the other day.

He came to the world in the usual way.

But there were planes to catch and bills to pay.

He learned to walk while I was away.

And he was talking before I knew it,

and as he grew, he said,

I'm gonna be like you, Dad.

You know I'm gonna be like you.

And then the chorus.

The cats in the cradle and the silver spoon,

little boy blue and the man in the moon.

When are you coming home, Dad?

I don't know when.

But we'll get together then.

You know we'll have a good time then.

The next two verses, same pattern.

The second verse is his son is 10 years old,

wants to play ball with his dad.

His dad's too busy.

The third verse, things switch a little bit.

The dad wants to spend some time with his son,

but his kid's in college

and just wants to drive his dad's car.

Too busy, don't have time.

This is the final verse of the song.

I've long since retired.

This is the dad speaking.

My son's moved away.

I called him up just the other day.

I said, I'd like to see you if you don't mind.

He said, I'd love to, Dad, if I can find the time.

You see, my new job's a hassle

and the kids have the flu.

Sure nice talking to you, Dad.

It's been sure nice talking to you.

And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me,

he'd grown up just like me.

My boy was just like me.

And the final chorus,

and the cats in the cradle and the silver spoon,

little boy blue and the man in the moon.

When are you coming home, son?

I don't know when.

But we'll get together then, Dad.

We're gonna have a good time then.

I have to say this song hits me

quite a bit differently 20 years

now that I have kids

from when I was a 16-year-old boy.

You know, this song is a great discipleship case study

in many ways on the power of imitation.

The son becomes just like his father.

But what I wanna highlight this morning

is what this song teaches us about time.

It's a morality tale about time.

And it's a warning.

Time is precious.

Time is our most valuable resource.

Our life is how we spend our time.

Don't waste it.

As we continue our series this morning

on discipleship and emotionally healthy spirituality,

we're going to be focusing on time.

And we're gonna look at three things.

We're gonna look at a framework

for how to think about time.

We're gonna look at the greatest threat

to our time today.

And then I wanna introduce or reintroduce us

to a few practices

to make the best use of our time.

So let's pray together.

Heavenly Father,

Father,

we come before you

even as we stood up

to hear your holy word.

Lord, I pray that you would help us

to understand your word,

to think about what that means

to stand under your word,

that we would submit to it,

that it would transform us,

that it would change us.

Lord, your word says in Psalm 91,

teach us to number our days

that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

And that's our prayer this morning.

I pray these things in Christ's holy name.

Amen.

So first, with our passage,

we're gonna look at

the Apostle Paul's framework

for how to think about time.

In the first half of the letter

to the church in Ephesus,

Paul unpacks the glory of the gospel.

And it can be summarized

in Ephesians 2, verses 12 and 13.

Ephesians 2:12

Paul writes this.

Remember that you were at that time

before you were a Christian.

You were at that time

separated from Christ,

alienated from the commonwealth of Israel

and strangers to the covenants of promise,

having no hope

and without God in the world.

But now, in Christ Jesus,

you who were once far off

have been brought near

by the blood of Christ.

This is the heart of the gospel

that Jesus died to save sinners.

That's what Paul unpacks

in Ephesians chapter 1 through chapter 3.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

And in the second half,

chapters 4 through 6,

Paul unpacks how the gospel

is to be worked

into every corner of our lives,

like kneading yeast into dough.

Throughout the Bible,

the language of walking

is a common metaphor

for describing our relationship,

our life with God.

And it's a really great metaphor

if you stop to think about it.

It shows us that faith

is active and dynamic.

It's not static.

It tells us that our faith

has a certain pace to it.

It's not a sprint.

It's an endurance race.

And it tells us

that faith is not just

something in the past,

but it's oriented towards

a goal in the future.

And Paul uses this walking metaphor

quite a lot

in the second half of Ephesians.

He says we are to walk in unity.

We're to walk in holiness.

We are to walk in light

and in love.

And in our passage,

we're to walk in wisdom.

Walking in wisdom

simply means

mastering the art

of living well.

Mastering the art

of living well.

The wise person

understands her context

and can discern

how she should respond,

how she should act

in any given situation.

And so in our passage

this morning,

verses 15 to 21,

Paul is answering

two questions.

When are we

and how should we then live?

When are we

and how should we then live?

So the first question,

when are we?

Well, Paul has

a surprising answer.

It's actually kind of

a scary one.

He says we are living

in evil days.

So what in the world

does Paul mean by that?

Seems very dramatic.

Well, Paul hints

at what he means

earlier in his letter

to the Ephesians

in chapter 2.

He says that we are living

in a time

where there are forces

at work.

He calls them the world

and the flesh

and the devil.

These forces that desire

nothing less

than our distraction

or our destruction.

And when you think about it,

in the end,

these two aren't

really that different.

I think it can be easy

to think that time

is neutral.

But that's not at all

how the Bible

describes it.

You see,

the Apostle Paul

conceives of time

in two ages.

There are two ages.

First, there's the present

evil age

in which we currently live.

That's the time

between Jesus'

first coming

and his second coming.

And the second age

is the age to come,

what we call heaven,

when Jesus returns

and sets the world

to rights.

We live in the present

evil age.

And so even though

we are living

2,000 or so years

after the Apostle Paul,

we inhabit the same time.

And so when Paul says

we're living in evil days,

what he's doing

is he's providing

our existential

or spiritual

time coordinates.

We live in a time

where there's powerful

forces working

against us,

trying to thwart

any progress

we might make

in our walk

with God.

And so during

these evil days,

the Christian life

is less of a walk

in the park

and more like a walk

through a minefield.

It's meant to be

sobering.

So,

what does this mean

for how we should

live our lives?

Because the days

are evil,

Paul writes,

look carefully

then how you walk.

Not as unwise,

but as wise,

the exhortation

is to make

the best use

of our time.

And so I want

to point out

two things here.

First is,

because the days

are evil,

Paul says we are

to remain vigilant.

We're supposed

to be very careful.

Look carefully

at how we walk.

We're not to

fall asleep spiritually.

Paul wants us

to wake up.

And he calls us

to live very intentionally

with great care.

He calls us

to watch our steps,

watch where we walk.

And I want to be

very clear here.

Paul is not saying

we're supposed

to live in fear.

Neither is he saying

we're supposed

to disengage

from the world.

He's saying

we're supposed

to take great care

in how we engage

the world,

take great care

in how we spend

our time.

We are to seize

every single opportunity

we have to love God

and to love our neighbors,

to take advantage

of every chance

we have

to be signposts

for the kingdom

of God

in a dark world.

We're to not

waste our time.

The second thing

I want to point out

is just what I find

most interesting

about this passage.

What I find

most interesting

is that Paul

doesn't give us

a list of rules

for how to not

waste our time.

He doesn't give us

a bunch of rules.

Instead,

he gives us

a kind of pattern

and then a really

great example.

And so I want to look

at that pattern

that he gives us

and then unpack

the example

a little bit.

So here's the pattern.

Our passage

is structured

around three

contrasting statements.

Don't be this way,

be this way instead.

Instead,

don't do this,

do this instead.

He says,

do not be unwise,

but be wise.

Do not be foolish,

but discern the will

of the Lord.

And then finally,

do not get drunk

with wine,

but be filled

with the Spirit.

Three contrasts.

What we're seeing

is a profound

moral logic here.

We shouldn't be surprised

that this is in the Bible.

You see,

God created us.

He knows how we tick.

He knows how we're formed

and what we need.

He knows that nature

and the human soul

abhor a vacuum.

Our Heavenly Father knows

that when his kids

are hungry,

it won't do to just say

don't have candy.

He needs to provide

a carrot for us instead.

And the moral logic

is really simple.

It's as simple as this.

Say no

to say yes.

It's simply

but elegantly pictured

in this slide

of a thumbs up

and a thumbs down.

This is what it means

to walk in wisdom.

This is what it looks like.

Saying no or yes

to the right things

at the right time.

Saying no or yes

to the right things

at the right time.

Very simple,

not very easy.

That's the pattern.

Now I want to look

at the example

that Paul gives us.

And it may seem odd

at first,

but if you stop

to think about it

and reflect upon it,

it's actually

a brilliant example.

Paul says in 518,

do not get drunk

with wine

for that is debauchery.

Instead,

be filled

with the Spirit.

So why does Paul

mention wine here?

Well, it's not

the use of alcohol

but the abuse

of alcohol

that's the problem.

And so Paul mentions

getting drunk,

not getting drunk

because on the surface,

getting drunk

is a really obvious

example of wasting time.

Now, the word

for debauchery

I think would probably

be better translated

as dissipation.

Don't get drunk

with wine

for that is dissipation.

Dissipation means

to squander

or to waste

the act of wasting

by misuse.

If you want

to waste your life,

get wasted all the time.

That's what Paul

is saying.

And if we dig

a little bit deeper

and we pay attention

to the contrast

with being filled

with the Spirit,

we'll see that

getting drunk

is not simply

a good example

of wasting time.

It shows us

that getting drunk

can lead to doing

or saying things

that you wouldn't do

if you were in your right mind,

that you wouldn't do normally.

So Paul contrasts wine

and the Holy Spirit

because these are two things

external to us

that can have

a profound influence

on our lives,

two things outside of us

that can shape us

and drive us

and dictate what we do.

So when Paul says

to be filled

by the Spirit,

he's conjuring

the image

of a boat,

of a sailboat

whose sails

are filled with wind

and driven forward.

What you're filled with

really matters.

What we allow

to fill our bodies

and our hearts

and our minds

has a profound influence.

Be filled with wine

and this leads

only to ruin,

but be filled

with the Spirit

and this leads

to all of the qualities

of healthy relationships

in Christian community

that we see

in Ephesians 5

Ephesians 5:19–21

verses 19

through 21.

So if we want

to make the best use

of our time,

Paul is saying,

we need to be very careful

about what we let

influence our heart

and our mind

and our body

because we are

so impressionable.

We need to be wise

about what impacts us.

Now I want you

to think about something.

If Paul were writing

this letter

not to the Ephesians

in the first century

but to our church

for instance

in Washington D.C.

in the 21st century,

what example

do you think

he might give

instead of

exhorting us

not to get drunk

with wine?

Take a minute

to think about

what he would say

instead of that example.

Now of course

I think

Paul's example

of alcohol,

of getting drunk

would still apply

to us

and to our context

but I'll tell you

what I think

he would say.

Instead of saying

don't get drunk

with wine,

I think Paul would say

don't get hypnotized

by your screens.

Don't get hypnotized

by your screens.

This leads us

to the second move

this morning.

The greatest threat

to making the best use

of our time.

I think

that the greatest threat

to our making

the best use

of the time

is our screens.

Our smartphones,

our tablets,

our laptops,

our TVs,

however you like

to stare at the screen.

The black mirror

that casts

the hypnotic blue glow

is the greatest threat

to our time.

I'm convinced of that.

Now,

it's not lost on me

that most of the people

listening to this sermon

are doing so

through a screen

and I want to be very clear,

screens in and of themselves

aren't evil.

It's not the use of screens,

it's the abuse of screens

just like with alcohol.

Nevertheless,

I think screens

are the greatest threat

to our time.

Now,

this morning

I'll resist

commenting on

some of the alarming statistics

between the impact

of screens

and our mental health

and the destruction

of our social fabric.

I know that correlation

is not the same

as causation.

The data

isn't yet conclusive on that.

We're still subjecting ourselves

and our children

to that experiment.

I think we'll

have to wait a few more years

to really see

what it's doing to us.

But what I can say

with confidence

is that screens

are the greatest threat

to making the best use

of our time

because of their power

for addiction

and their power

for manipulation.

Our screens

are causing us

to be addicted

and they're manipulating us.

I think the greatest

external influence,

the primary place

of our catechesis,

of our forming

our hearts

and our minds,

shaping our moral imaginations,

is the media

that we consume

on our screens.

And we really need

to walk in wisdom

with this technology

that is in our back pockets.

Now, I probably

don't need to convince you

about how addicting

our screens are.

But nevertheless,

here are some statistics

and these stats

are about

just our phone screens.

It doesn't have

anything to say

about our tablets

or our television use.

On average,

we pick up our phone

and have a session

on our phone

58 times a day.

So if you're awake

for 16 hours,

that means

we're on our phone

for a session

every 15 minutes,

four times an hour.

The average American

spends three hours

and 15 minutes

on their smartphone.

And the top users,

I suspect people

like the folks

in our church,

the average time

is up to four

and a half hours

a day.

That means we spend

close to a quarter

of our day

bent over,

necks hunched,

curved in on ourselves,

staring at our screens.

And studies show

that you don't even

have to be looking

at your phone

for it to distract you,

to have an impact

on your life.

Even if it's in

the same room with you,

it distracts us.

It distracts us

from our work

or from our prayer

or being in conversation

with people

that are actually

with us

in the same room.

You know,

I am embarrassed to say,

but I can't tell you

how many times

I've looked down

at my phone

to check something

and I don't have

notifications on my phone.

I'm smart enough

not to have notifications,

but I look at my phone

to check my email

or a calendar appointment

and then just seeing

an app on my phone

distracts me.

And I'm mindlessly

sucked into

the timeless news feed

or a funny cat video

vortex

or some other stupid thing

on the internet

only to be spit out

an hour later

realizing that I've

totally lost track

of my time.

I don't even know what,

I can't remember

what just happened

for the past hour.

I don't know

if you can relate to that.

Our screens are dicting

and they're wasting our time.

And they're not addictive

by accident.

A documentary called

The Social Dilemma

talks about this.

This is a great documentary.

I encourage you

to read it

or to watch it.

The documentary

interviews leaders

from big tech

and people who've

waken up to

how harmful

the tech industry can be,

how harmful

some of this technology

and media

and the apps

and platforms

and sites

that they helped create

can be.

They pull back

the curtain

for why this technology

and why our screens

are so highly addictive.

All these big companies,

Google,

Facebook,

Instagram,

Pinterest,

they all have

a business model

that depends

on gluing eyes

to screens.

Their bottom line

depends on this.

And so an unbelievable

amount of resources

is devoted to

hacking our attention

and exploiting

our vulnerabilities.

The saying goes,

if you're not paying

for a product

like Gmail,

for instance,

you are the product.

Our attention

is the product.

They're making money

off of our attention

and so they want

to get the most of it

that they can.

That's why it's addicting.

But the reality

actually is far worse.

The danger of screens

is far worse

than just addiction.

The real source

of money

is not just

our attention

but the manipulation

of our behavior,

the manipulation

of our activity

in the world.

This is how

Jaron Lanier

describes it.

He's a really

fascinating guy.

He's a Silicon Valley

scientist,

the author of a book

called Ten Arguments

for Deleting

Your Social Media

Accounts Right Now.

He says this.

This is how

they monetize

these companies.

It's the gradual,

slight,

imperceptible change

in our behavior

and perception

that is the product.

That's what they're

making money off of.

That's the only thing

for them to make money from.

This is terrifying.

Changing what you do,

how you think,

and who you are.

That's the real danger

of screens.

They're changing

what we do,

what we think,

and who we are.

We're being manipulated

by them.

We're willingly

being manipulated

by them.

We hold our screens

but our screens

really have a grip

on us.

Now here's a real world

example of what

this manipulation

can look like.

They talk about this

in the documentary.

A couple years ago

Facebook did an experiment

on its users

and they're constantly

running experiments

on us,

believe it or not.

They were testing

to see if subliminal

cues on Facebook pages

could impact

voter turnout.

And they twisted

some dials

and they realized

that they could

actually change

real world events.

The subliminal cues

worked.

Got more people

to vote in

midterm elections.

And of course

voting is good

but this kind of

power is terrifying.

They could

maybe get us

to not vote

or vote

for a particular

candidate

or another candidate.

They can manipulate

our behavior

and our emotions

and real world events

without us

ever knowing

that they're influencing

us.

It's pretty scary

stuff.

Our phone screens,

I like to think

of them,

is sort of like

a pocket-sized

black hole

relentlessly sucking

in all of our time

into itself

and when it spits

us back out

it's manipulated

into what we think

and what we feel

and what we do.

And as disciples

of Jesus Christ

we need to pay

attention to this

and we need to think

about how we're

using this technology.

Now to their good credit

some people

in the tech industry

are trying to resist

the corrosive effect

of screens.

They've wakened up

to this

and they're trying

to sort of solve

some of the problems

that they've created.

And this has given

rise to a movement

called the Time

Well Spent Movement.

I don't know about you

but I'm a little bit

suspicious of turning

to big tech

to solve some of the

problems that they've

created.

Especially when

as Christians

we have tremendous

resources from

the Christian tradition

to do this.

And so

lastly I want to look

at and introduce

perhaps reintroduce

us to some

practices

for us to make

the best use

of our time.

I like to think

of these

as ancient wisdom

for some of our

modern problems.

The three practices

are fasting,

the daily office,

and the Sabbath.

And this is

a lot of this

is from chapter 6

of Emotionally Healthy

Spirituality

which we're tracking

through in our

core groups.

So we'll spend

more time

in our core groups

talking about

some of these details.

What I'm going to

talk about now

is not really

trying to be

comprehensive.

It's more of

a quick overview

of how we can

incorporate these

practices

into our lives

with a mind

towards resisting

the power of

screens in our lives.

So first

the practice

of fasting.

The same moral logic

applies to fasting

as we've been

talking about.

It's the practice

of saying no

so that we can

say yes

to other things.

This week

as a community

we're inviting you

to fast

from social media

to give some

of this

a try.

And realistically

fasting for a week

from social media

is not going

to rewire

our brain

or break

bad habits.

We spend so much

time on our screens

we can't break

the bad habit

in just a week.

I'd like to think

of it more

as like a diagnostic

tool this week

with fasting

from social media.

It will probably

just expose

our dependence

to our screens.

But that's

a good thing.

It's a good first step.

Admitting that you

have a problem

is the first step

towards recovery.

The first step

towards walking

and wisdom.

So fast.

Fast from social media.

Stop using social media.

Limit your intake

of other media

as well.

Try to stay off screens

as much as possible

outside of work

or school.

And as you go

through this experience

ask yourself

pay attention

journal

what is it like

to unplug?

What is it like

to get off

of your screen?

How is the Lord

inviting you?

Ask yourself this

how is the Lord

inviting you

to repent

and believe

this week?

Remember repentance

is not just

is not really

feeling bad

about bad habits

or what you've done

or about yourself.

Repenting is

turning around.

It's turning

from deadly habits

towards more

life-giving ones

from deadly activities

to more life-giving

activities.

So that's the first

practice fasting.

The next two

the daily office

and the Sabbath

are more directly

related to time.

And I like to think

of these two practices

as contemplative life hacks

contemplative time hacks.

They're daily

and weekly practices

that help us

to think

and act

more carefully

with our time.

They help us

to structure our time

so that we might

be able to do so.

And they provide

the space

that's required

so that we might

be filled

by the Holy Spirit

to hear the voice

of the Lord

that God loves us

and what he wants

us to do

that we might discern

the will of the Lord.

So the second practice

is the daily office.

This is the daily rhythm.

The daily office

is simply

set times of prayer

set times

of silence

scripture reading

that frame our day.

Set times

set apart

so that we can

pay attention

to God.

It's usually

two or three times

throughout our day.

It can be

morning and evening

or morning,

noon,

and evening.

And

it's a

great practice

for structuring

our day

to orient us

towards our day.

For many of us,

I suspect,

we have a really

bad habit

of the first thing

that we look at

in the morning

and the last thing

that we look at

at night

is a screen.

Checking our email,

looking at the news,

whatever it may be.

And that's not a good habit.

That's a very bad habit.

Perhaps the best

and most strategic thing

you can do

every single day

to resist the power

and the manipulation

of screens

is the daily office.

So in the morning,

commit to not looking

at your screen

before you look

at the scriptures.

And in the evening,

plug your phone in

an hour before you go to bed,

put it to sleep,

put it to rest,

put it in another room,

and don't look at it again.

Instead of doom scrolling

right before you go to sleep,

practice the daily examine,

the practice

that Pastor Tommy

led us through,

taught us about

last Sunday.

When we practice

the daily office,

we resist allowing

the notifications

on our screen

or our email

or our appointments

in our calendar

to structure our day.

We allow God's word

and God's voice

to structure our day.

And the final practice,

we have fasting,

the daily office,

and then the Sabbath.

And this is our weekly rhythm.

My favorite description

of the Sabbath

is from a theologian

named Marva Dawn.

She describes the Sabbath

as a royal waste of time.

I love that.

It's a day,

24-hour period,

set apart

where we take a break

from the grind

of production

and consumption.

It's a day set apart

devoted to wasting time

with the king

of the universe.

And there's a movement

to the Sabbath.

The movement

is stopping

and contemplation

and feasting.

I want to talk

a little bit

about each one of these.

So,

Sabbath,

the word Shabbat

means to cease

or to stop.

So,

the first movement

for the Sabbath

is stopping.

As that relates

to our screens,

that just means

turning off your phone.

Spend a day

where you're not

looking at your screen.

Put it away

for the whole day.

And it's really helpful

for Sabbath

to mark the time,

both the beginning

and the end,

to set it apart.

So,

what I like to do

is to say a prayer

to start the Sabbath.

So,

I'm entering into this day

that's set apart

and as it's ending,

I like to say a prayer

to wrap things up.

Committing things

to the Lord

and then thanking the Lord

for how he's met me

in this period of time.

So,

stop using the screen.

Give it a rest.

Sabbath is a day

to say no.

It's the same movement.

We're saying no

in order to say yes.

The Sabbath is a day

to say no

but it's also a day

of saying yes.

The Sabbath is not a vacuum.

It's not a day

of just being sad

and alone

in a dark room.

And this is where

contemplation comes in.

This is where we fill

ourselves up.

We get off our screens

and we don't just

look at nothing.

We get off our screens

in order to get

into God's world,

into creation

and to get more deeply

into God's word.

We contemplate.

We look.

We listen.

We pay attention to God

and we allow

the tangled mess

of our lives

to be untangled.

We allow God

to reorient

our priorities

and our values.

And the final movement

of Sabbath keeping

is feasting.

We savor.

We enjoy.

We celebrate.

We embrace the things

that are most life-giving

and restore our humanity.

So instead of binging

a show on Netflix,

maybe read a book

for pleasure.

Maybe read some poetry.

Instead of liking posts

on social media

from perfect strangers,

invest,

spend some time

in your most important

relationships.

That might require

getting creative

in these times.

go for a walk outside

with a friend

or write a letter

or do something

to serve or bless somebody

in the community.

Now there's much more

to say about all

these practices.

We're just scratching

the surface

and we just looked

at them through the angle

of resisting

the power of screens.

Our hope this week

is that you'll spend

some more time

working these things

out more fully

in the context

of your core groups

or your spiritual friendships.

This morning,

I want to close

with a poem.

A poem, poetry,

is one of my favorite

things to do

on the Sabbath.

It's one of my

spiritual practices,

actually.

Because I found poetry

to be one of the greatest

antidotes to the flurry

of Twitter hot takes

and the relentless pace

of the 24-7 news cycle.

Reading good poetry,

the practice of reading

good poetry,

is a slow and a quiet

and a radical challenge

to the harmful habits

reinforced by our screens.

The poem I'm going to read

is one of my favorite poems

and it ties together

so many of the themes

that we've been exploring

together this morning.

It's a poem that invites us

to think about

how we spend our time

and therefore

how we spend our lives.

The poem is

The Summer Day

by Mary Oliver.

I'll end with this.

Who made the world?

Who made the swan

and the black bear?

Who made the grasshopper?

This grasshopper, I mean.

The one who has flung herself

out of the grass.

The one who is eating sugar

out of my hand.

Who is moving her jaws

back and forth

instead of up and down.

Who is gazing around

with her enormous

and complicated eyes.

Now she lifts

her pale forearms

and thoroughly washes her face.

Now she snaps her wings open

and floats away.

I don't know exactly

what a prayer is.

I do know how to pay attention.

How to fall down into the grass.

How to kneel down in the grass.

How to be idle and blessed.

How to stroll through the fields,

which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me,

what else should I have done?

Doesn't everything die at last

and too soon?

Tell me,

what is it you plan to do

with your one wild

and precious life?

Let's pray.

Father,

we thank you for speaking to us.

Lord,

we pray that you would help us

to not only be hearers

of your word,

but to be doers.

Lord,

would you help us

to reorient our lives,

restructure our lives,

help us to make the best use

of the time.

Lord,

again we pray,

teach us to number our days

that we may gain

a heart of wisdom.

We pray all these things,

Lord,

for our good,

for the good of your world

and for your glory.

In Jesus' name,

Amen.