Who Has Time for Leisure?

Many people frantically run through the day, although students on summer break might be exempt from the hurry-hurry, “got-no-time.” While summer may afford a bit more leisure, leisure is still a commodity hard to come by.  Who has time for leisure?

    David Steindl-Rast has said that leisure is not the privilege of those who have time. Rather leisure is the virtue lived by persons who give to each instant of life the time it deserves. When you think about it, wasn’t Jesus a man of leisure? Certainly he was always on the move—that long journey to Jerusalem that covers much of Luke’s Gospe? But note the ways Jesus gives each instant the time it deserves, as he walks along the way. The apostles wanted to shoo children away when Jesus had a hard day of preaching, but Jesus took the time to bless them and maybe listen to their stories or play a little game with them. While Jesus was heading to the home of Jairus to heal his twelve-year-old daughter, he took time with the woman who touched the tassel of his cloak. Jesus could have kept on walking knowing someone was healed, but he took the time to see who it was, perhaps asking, “What else can I do for you?”

Time belongs to God, and we are responsible for the use of such a great gift. Do we choose to be our best selves in the midst of time pressures? Are we letting ourselves grow in self-discipline by giving to each situation the time it deserves? Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “The time is always right to do what is right.”

Spend your summer in leisure—even if it means being busy.