more like the playstation

It occurred to me today that I should treat people more like I treat the playstation that kel bought for me.

Let me explain.

I had a few minutes today where I was waiting, but had nothing with me to do or read (Murphy’s law is at work here: whenever I remember to bring such things, I never have a chance to use them), and so I thought “what should I do with this tiny piece of time?”

I could have soaked in the stillness, I guess, but certain places aren’t really conducive to this practice, so that wasn’t a viable option. What did I opt to do? Why, fumble out a few words of prayer, of course. Moments later, my time of waiting was up, and it was time to move on to something else.

What does all of this have to do with people, or with the playstation? Please, bear with me.

When I’m looking at spending some quality time with the PS2 (and those of you unfortunate enough to have shared accommodation with me at these times will testify to this), I don’t really concern myself with trifles like “I have to be somewhere”, or “it’s three o’clock in the morning”: I just concentrate on spending quality time with the PS2.

I have on occasion been told that I hand out small pieces of time with people, just the gaps in-between other events. Until today, trying to squeeze a few prayers into a couple of minutes, it hadn’t hit me that this is a pretty poor way to show someone that they’re important to me.

This goes for prayer too: if the only time I’m spending in prayer is the few minutes where there’s nothing “more interesting” to do, then there are problems with my relationship with God.

If you have ever felt like an additional item on my over-full schedule, I’m sorry. I’ll endeavour to treat you more like a playstation in future.