My satellite is out.  So last night I had to catch shows I normally DVR in “real time.”  It killed me.  I had to sit through every commercial.  I tried to find things to do: I grabbed a book, I found a crossword puzzle.  As I was agonizing waiting for the deodorant/car/coffee ad (pick one- I didn’t pay attention) to be over, I was upset at how I was a slave to the timeslot.  I couldn’t choose when to watch these shows.  What if I’d rather be on the computer or playing with my kid? (The former being more likely.)  Then I realized it wasn’t too long ago (before DVR) that I scheduled around the TV shows I liked to watch.  I made sure I was in front of the TV at 8:00 on Thursdays to catch ER.  I thought about what a waste that was to be a slave to a TV timeslot and not have the ability to pick when to watch – when was convenient for me. 

 

The only thing that’s really scheduled in my life has to so with school-related activities or sports: football, soccer, PTA meetings, etc.  Oh, and church (it’s reliably always on Sunday mornings.)  I’m even in online classes where I get to pick when to work on the assignments, with a deadline, of course.  Everything’s on my time, when I want to do it.

 

Interestingly enough, I’m also reading a great book, The Year of Living Biblically, about a man who tries to obey every Biblical law.  Talk about being a slave to time.  He has to do certain things in the morning, certain things the first of every month, etc. 

 

Then I realized that maybe it’s not such a bad thing after all to have something that requires your attention at a certain time, especially God-related things. I choose when to pray, for example, but maybe I should have a dedicated time slot each day to do so – a time I choose not to let my selfish desires take over, a time I give up on my plans and do something scheduled, something important.  Other things in life could fall in this category: play time with my kids, date night with my husband, bubble baths (which could actually fall in both previous categories).

 

Maybe in this unstructured, free-for-all world we live in we need timeslots.  I love my freedom, but sometimes I need to be reminded that it’s not all about me.