Editorial
From the Newsletter of Revesby Presbyterian Church
April 2010
Rev Dr Peter Barnes
It is sometimes surprising how simple things can have an impact on us. Joni Eareckson Tada tells of how she went to visit Corrie ten Boom one spring day. Both women were disabled and in wheel chairs – Joni a quadriplegic after breaking her neck, and Corrie an ageing invalid who had suffered a series of strokes. Joni records: ‘The day was filled with activity, yet relaxed and slow paced. After we enjoyed the flowers, we went into the kitchen for tea and chocolates. After tea we read the Bible and prayed. Then we retired to the parlor and talked. I was amazed how quickly the day flew by, yet how peaceful and stress free it seemed.’ Then Corrie’s carer, a woman named Pam, explained the philosophy behind it all. She said that she and Corrie never did lots of things at once. ‘We don’t sit outside, read and enjoy tea and chocolates. We space everything out so we can truly appreciate the individual pleasures of each activity.’
We live in age when we try to do a multitude of things at once, and when we rush from one activity to another. It has become all too common to see someone in a queue in a post office or a bank, and speaking on his mobile while transacting his business. That is hardly what the Bible means by redeeming the time or making the best use of the time (Eph.5:16). Past ages might have regarded it as somewhat rude, as demeaning our interaction with the teller behind the counter. We tend to rush everything. If we are at a funeral today, we are expecting to be coping well tomorrow. The Bible speaks of ‘a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance’ (Eccles.3:4), but we are in the habit of pushing through sad experiences to reach what we think is a healthier state.
Even in reading – that most sedentary of activities – some of us manage to rush things. For decades I have found myself in the bad habit of reading six or seven books at once. Each day I might read a little bit from each one, but I invariably find it far more satisfying when I read large chunks of just one. Yet the bad habit remains! In many households the television is left on even when no one is watching or listening. In fact, it can be turned down so low that it is scarcely possible to listen to it. Yet presumably the background noise is supposed to provide some sense of comfort and meaningful activity.
God is the God of everything, so, says Paul, ‘whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God’ (1 Cor.10:31). Everything is significant before God. We are not to dismiss some things as simply trivial, nor cram too much into too confined a space of time. ‘Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble’ (Matt. 6:34).
None of this is meant to argue that we should never do two things at once. Corrie in her dotage probably overdid the ‘one thing at a time’ approach. It is good to go for a walk and take your ipod and listen to a John Piper sermon at the same time. It may also be good just to go for a walk and enjoy the scenery and be open to conversing other walkers. We all have a need both for isolation and for interaction. Samuel Rutherford confessed that he was made of extremes, but human beings tend to lurch from one error to the next. In 1788 William Wilberforce drew up a meticulous timetable for how he spent his time. He was convinced that he was prone to waste it, so he wrote: ‘Let this consideration quicken my exertions. I am about to enter upon keeping a regular account of my time, from which it will be in my power to derive many advantages.’ That may be your problem too, and so Wilberforce’s may benefit you.
Yet there is surely something attractive and refreshing in Joni’s description of her day with Corrie ten Boom. So often we rush, and somehow lose ground in friendships and in appreciation of what is truly significant. Joni’s observation is irrefutable: ‘Someone has pushed the fast-forward button on our days.’ But she is not wringing her hands in a nostalgic yearning for slower days. Rather, she proffers the simplest advice: ‘Enjoy God’s glory in every small thing.’
With warmest regards in Christ,
Peter Barnes