Wasting Time

"I believe the greatest trick of the devil is not to get us into some sort of evil but rather have us wasting time." (p.13). That's a quote from Blue Like Jazz, a book I've been reading during my lunch breaks at work. The question I have rattling around in my head is, what does it mean to "waste time"?

At the job I'm working on we have a porta-potty, which is customary. Porta-potties are nasty. Most people use (abuse) them only in emergencies when they're miles from a real bathroom. For me, as a true construction worker, I use it everyday--multiple times. I'm not saying all that just to gross you out. I have a point.

Once a week there's a guy who comes out in a truck with a big tank on it to service the porta-potty. I don't shake his hand. He pulls out a big tube and sucks out the waste and then replenishes the potty with fresh blue water. As he does, I try to think of a worse job, but I'm unable to. It's a crapy job--literally. It's a waste (to use another pun), or so it seems.

Is that guy wasting his time, even wasting his life? Aren't there more meaningful careers? Aren't there more noble causes? And come to think of it, aren't most jobs kind of a waste of time? Think back to the biblical story. Was Moses wasting time as he tended sheep after fleeing Egypt? Was Jesus wasting time as he worked as a carpenter before his public ministry? Did Paul waste time as he made tents? Or maybe we have it all wrong. Maybe God is most at work when it appears that people are wasting time.

Each day, with each activity, we either waste time or redeem time. And it doesn't depend so much on what we do (servicing porta-potties, pounding nails, watching kids, etc.), it's really about how we do it. Are we tuned into God's kingdom coming near? Do we perform our work with the purpose of glorifying God? Do our activities serve as a prism, displaying the colors of heaven, creating a longing for home?

There are a lot of crapy jobs in the world, but they don't have to be a waste of time.