Free Time

Despite the title for this post, I don't necessarily have that much free time in my life right now. My general commitments for this semester include nine hours at Wichita State (one traditional class plus my thesis) and working half time for the university. Well, the work stuff hasn't started up yet and my thesis has been stalled out this past week while I wait on some equipment to get installed for me. In addition to this school stuff, though, I have other tasks around the house that didn't get done over Christmas due to being out of town a lot. There's also church-related stuff and other longer-term projects. I don't lack things that need to get done.

More accurately, then, the title should be "Unstructured Time". Every morning (or the evening before) I have to sit down and think through what I'm going to do, what the next day looks like for me. Even on the days when have class I have to decide if I'm going to stay on campus, for how long, if I need to bring a lunch, what I would do with that time, etc. I have to create my own structure and, in essence, my own priorities; build my own day. This is not a bad thing at all, I would even argue that it is a luxury to be able to have such control over one's life. I'm not being dictated to, I'm looking at the next twelve hours of my life and deciding what is important, what needs to be get done and what can wait.

It reminds we a lot of how I felt after graduating college and starting on my first job. Sure, I had work every day but after that I was totally free, no homework (and no family at that point). I could do whatever I wanted and had complete freedom of how I spent those hours. Life stretched before me and there was a wide, seemingly endless gamut of choices. I could be more involved in church, I could take up new hobbies or get back to ones I had dropped in college, I could read, I could watch TV or go to the movies, I could go to the park or the art museum, I could join a club or a band,....

Its a unique place to be in and it doesn't happen very often in life. Such broad latitude is a gift; we should all pray that if or when it comes along next, we don't squander it. That's what I'm trying to do, put it to good use while I can.