A Waste

Sometimes I wonder how much of our life is wasted on unimportant things.  I think of how many hours of TV I have watched in my life time and how many missed or un-built relationships I have because of how I have chose to use my time.  Sure it is nice to be able to sit down and unwind every once-in-a-while, but I wonder how many hours we waste doing pointless things that cost us time in this short life we have to live.

I was listening to a discussion recently about how much we have compared to other people throughout the world and how our "poor" aren't really poor in most instances. While I could go on and on with that topic and discuss my views, I have to wonder if in the midst of those who have so much "less" than us, do they perhaps have more in some ways than we do. 

Think about it for a minute.  If you don't have a car, you don't have to waste time putting in gas, changing oil, maintaining and repairing.  There is a lot of extra free time in that.  Granted they can't typically go very far and therefor are limited when it comes to work, but if you can learn to live on less you can really afford to make less.  If you can afford to make less then you can work less and have more time for the more important things in life.

I'm not saying that everyone is called to this, because I know God provides opportunities for people to work and helps some be able to make more so that they can take care of the less fortunate.  I just wonder how much of our lives we spend doing things that waste our time and we miss out on opportunities that God has for us. 

Anyway, it's just a thought for now.  It's something I have been wrestling with for a while.  It's one of those ideas where you wonder if we have become so "advanced" as a society that we miss out on the blessings that many past generations had when they didn't have the things that are supposed to make our lives better.