Monday Morning Sermon Part 2: Pastor Dave's List of Non-Time Wasters

Yesterday we talked about Matthew 25: 14-30 and how it's perfectly possible to squander your God-given gifts by remaining busy with things that don't matter as much as you'd think.  The post included a list of potential time-wasters.  Today we look at the flip side with...

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Pastor Dave’s Random List of Things that Almost Never Waste Your Time and Talents

Saying thank you and appreciating/complimenting people--It's a simple process, but so life affirming!  It's often forgotten as well.  Take time to thank somebody today in a more-than-just-perfunctory manner and watch life bloom!

Helping your young kids be kids and your adult kids be adults--Kids today grow up too fast and then stall.  Spending some time on your hands and knees with a young one playing around is a powerful lesson.  Patting your adult kids on the back and affirming their independence can be just as powerful.  Be they young or old, find a reason to tell them you're proud of them today.

Doing almost anything with your grandchildren--This should be self-evident!

Taking risks--Dare to do something different!  Even if you fail, you've learned something.  Plus you've shown everyone else that it's not so bad and they can take a risk too.  Nothing grand ever happens without someone daring to tread new ground.

Volunteering--So many organizations could use an hour or two.  It broadens your perspective and puts you in touch with a culture of giving.

Sitting with a sick or lonely person--Never has so much good been done over a cup of tea.

Baking cookies--Duh!

Surprising someone--Nothing says, "You're special" like the unexpected!  Just knowing someone planned something for you is enough to make people feel warm and fuzzy.  It's even better if there's no reason for the act...just because!  Most people think of spouses as the recipient (which you should do) but surprising people not as close to you or even strangers can have amazing results.  People don't forget something like that.

Hugs--If you're any kind of huggy person and you know other huggy people, share them often.

Making something beautiful, even if it’s only beautiful to you--One of God's first commands to human beings in the Garden of Eden was to create.  Every time you make something that reflects you, you get back in touch with those original ideals.  In reality your life should be a continual process of creating beauty.  Sometimes tangible moments of creation--like doing a craft or writing a poem or tending a garden--remind us of that.

Stepping in when someone is getting hurt--There's so much injustice in the world, big and small.  If you see something going wrong today, do something about it and remind people what right is.  Even if you can't intervene directly, find a way to support people who are suffering unjustly.

Prayer--No relationship lives long without communication.  Prayer is your communication with God.  Short or long, eloquent or homely, pray today.  Maintaining a sense of connection with God will help you see the rest of your faith life more clearly.

Holding a hand--That's why God gave them to us!

Smiling--This instantly communicates hope, becoming a powerful witness that life is good.  It's free, easy, and quick too.

Being patient--Practice this as much as you can.  It almost always pays dividends.  The world doesn't work on our schedule.  I think God designed it that way to teach us humility about our schedules and expectations of life.

Getting down on your knees and listening to someone else’s child--Have a five-minute conversation with a child you don't have to worry about raising or disciplining.  Ask them a question and let them talk.  You'll be enlightened!

Letting other people help you every once in a while--This gives other people a chance to practice these important faith disciplines.  It also reminds you that you're not the only one with holy gifts...that you stand in need as much as anyone.

Hearing a new song, singing it if you can manage--Music makes the soul leap.  Your old favorites warm you up but a new song can fire your imagination.  Find one!

Letting someone else hold your baby--If you have a spare one lying around, I can't think of a better way to share trust and love.  You can hover pretty close if you need to.

Taking a nap when you need one--It's OK.  All that stuff to do will still be there when you wake up.

Laugh at your own mistakes--Who are you that you should be perfect?  Besides, nobody likes a perfect person.  You know who people like?  People like other people who realize their own imperfections but aren't hamstrung by them.  Laughing when you make an error communicates both.  What did you ever get by taking yourself so seriously anyway?

Forgiving--This can be a hard process, a lengthy process, sometimes an agonizing process.  It's also usually the right process if you want to make the biggest impact in the world you can.

Sharing the peace with every single person in church--How can you go wrong there?  We'll wait!

Letting other people see your joy and helping them see theirs--We interpret so much of life from inside ourselves...process so many things internally.  The most important things in life don't happen inside us, they happen in the space in between us.  Fill that space with joy and help others do so as well.

Responding another person’s need more than your own desire or comfort--Everybody has a hundred reasons to shy away from a person in need.  We don't know what to say.  We don't have our own issues resolved.  We don't have time.  We don't have resources.  At a basic level you don't need any of those things.  An extended hand and a listening ear are usually enough.  Seeing a person in need is like getting a phone call from God.  Stopping to help is our answer to him.

Trusting that ultimately it’s going to be OK even if it takes a while to see it--This is one of the hardest things to do, especially since we've all experienced loss and not-OK situations.  Sometimes there's no reason at all to think life will be OK...at least not the way we'd hoped.  Those are precisely the moments where trust comes in.  If we could make it OK by our own means we wouldn't have to trust.  But somehow that experience of saying, "I can't fix it or find a way out of it so I'll have to depend on you to sort this our, Lord" frees something inside of us.  It's a confession that we're not all-powerful.  Maybe we're not even powerful enough to know how to trust in a conscious fashion.  But those two words, "I can't" followed by the petition "So please, Lord..." encapsulate the entire story of our salvation.  In the end, that's all we have to trust in.

Seeing beauty that others don’t and talking about it!--How many miracles happen in our ordinary days, through all of the ways listed above and more, that we just pass by?  Find something beautiful today--grand or small--and celebrate it!  Share it with somebody too, even if it's just a silly little thing.

Anything you do that draws on the well of beauty that God has instilled in you and courageously shares it with the world--God created each of us beautiful and each of us for the purpose of sharing that beauty in unique ways.  We are his artwork, his handiwork, his great creation.  What if DaVinci's Mona Lisa crawled out of her frame and hid at the bottom of a closet?  That would be disappointing to the artist and the rest of the world alike.  Granted, sin makes it impossible to fully see or express the original beauty we were created with.  Everything we attempt will fall short.  But the whole purpose of Baptism, Communion, confession and forgiveness, the cross itself is to transform imperfections into holy goodness.  Our imperfect little selves get to harmonize with the Perfect to create a chord that goes beyond any of us.  (I guess that would make God the great auto-tuner?)  That music is flowing through you.  You are part of the song.  Just get out and sing it, however you are called to do so today.  Trust it, be thankful for it, celebrate it...all the things we've talked about.  You won't regret it.  In fact you'll find more life, peace, joy, and purpose than you've ever dreamed.

"For to all those who have, more will be given and they will have an abundance..."

--Pastor Dave (pastordave@geneseelutheranparish.org)