stolen time

So I quote...

"Someday I will go to the biggest mountain of icecream in all the world and it will be named 'Evercream'".

"I dream that the only food was pizza and it wouldn't make anyone fat."

"I hope that I'll return to Korea and eat some delicious sushis"

"Someday I hope to know 10 languages"

"Sometimes I wish I could meet Zac Efron".

These are some of the hopes and dreams of my 4th grade students. While I may have selectively chose the wishes to share with all of you - these were some of my favorites. Many made me chuckle and many made me look twice. As of this week I too have a wish I could throw in with the pile, "Sometimes I wish I could throw my watch away."

Maybe Mexico is rubbing off on me a little too much, but I am really enjoying this laid-back schedule even though I get caught up in my tendency to use the watch. This week I had a conversation with an older gentlemen who works at Lincoln School. He confessed his problem of keeping track of time. "I don't even know why I wear a watch. It does me no good, because I forget I have it on and I forget to even look at it." This made me laugh as I confessed to him my over-usage of a watch. Since being a teacher, I steal too many glances at the numbers during the day.

I was once again the thief on Saturday as I was hanging out with kids at the orphanage all day. After playing and helping in the kitchen for 7 hours (not that I was counting that closely or anything....), my hungry and tired self was ready to go home. But then "it" hit - you know that guilty and sick feeling deep in the gut. I realized that I couldn't even spend part of my day helping others without looking at my watch and thinking of "my needs" above the obvious needs of those around me.

It is ok to chill and enjoy the company. Sometimes waiting to do something until tomorrow is ok. But I can't take too big a bite of that idea, because being a procrastinator at heart, I would never get anything done. And somethings do need be done sooner than later.

I finally got around to watching a movie I had put off for many months, "End of the Spear". This piercing movie depicts the effects of 5 men who gave up everything - comfort, family, friends and their lives - for a cause greater than themselves. They left the basic luxuries to live in a jungle in a foreign country to bring the word of God to people who knew no life but cannibalism. These five men risked everything because "they were ready to go home" and had no fear.

These men abandoned the "later" and embraced the "now". Their time was spent in a worthy manner. Days were lived with purpose beyond themselves. They did not die in vain, nor did they spend their time in vain. So my amigos, it is not about the watch, it is about the time we have been given.

Jesus, help me use my time for your glory. That it won't be "me" ruling the watch but that you'll be working through me all the time. With your grace am I anything, gracias.