This past week my husband and I took a heroic step towards a
healthier lifestyle. We stopped using the microwave. Crazy, I know…This
means that every time we have to warm up leftovers, we have to get out a pot or
a pan, wait until it heats up on the stove, then put the food inside, put a
little bit of water and cover it with a lid so that it steams through and spend
something ridiculous like 5 minutes on the whole process! It also means a host
of other small inconveniences, like using a kettle or washing more dishes, and
I must confess—at least once a day for the past week I’ve missed the microwave.
Something else seemingly insignificant happened this week—we ran out of green
tea bags (which we use every morning) and were “forced” to use leafy tea
instead. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the process of using leafy
tea, you must pour some leaves in the teapot, pour some hot water in and
actually wait about 4-5 minutes (vs. 30 seconds for a tea bag) until the tea
seeps before drinking it. It’s beautifully aromatic and delicious, more so than
the bag variety, but if I am honest, more often than not I usually reach out
for the tea bag—because it doesn’t slow me down as much.
This got me thinking how much I both love and hate
convenience and efficiency. I love it because supposedly it frees up more time
for stuff that “truly matters”. But does it? Not in my experience. I find
myself constantly finding ways to squeeze in more projects and activities in my
day, and I hardly feel good about myself unless I feel “productive”. And I hate
it because deep down I realize that efficiency hurts not only my mind, but my
soul too. It makes it difficult to just sit and be with God without feeling “productive”
in my devotional times. It makes it hard to pay close attention to His gifts—like
pretty colors, or a soft feeling of bed sheets, or delicious aroma of leafy tea…It
makes it challenging to be truly present with other people. It makes it…kind of
hard to have joy! I am re-reading a wonderful book, Opening to God: Lectio Divina and Life as Prayer by David Benner,
in which the he talks about the essential value of being attuned to God’s presence
in our lives. Slowing down and being still form a pre-requisite for that
attunement, and a pre-requisite for meaningful prayer. There are no shortcuts
to intimacy with God. It’s such a simple truth but so difficult to internalize
when we live lives of constant shortcuts.
I haven’t decided whether or not I’ll buy tea bags again. It
was on my list to-do today, but perhaps I need more reminders to slow down.
Perhaps I need more patience and more joy in my life…
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