Life on the Edges of Time

Has there ever been a culture or generation that moves as fast as ours? Have any humans who walked this planet multi-tasked and crammed their schedules as full as ours? Maybe. I'm not aware of any. I do know that modern, urban, American life is a life without many margins. No time margins, no emotional margins, no relationship margins, and no money margins. We live fast and on the edge. And we pay a price for that.

High Calling Blogger Ann Voskamp of Holy Experience notices her tendency to "scarf down" life in a recent post.

As a child, (now, not so much), I scarfed down food. Grandma Ruth would shake her head in obvious disgust. “Child! That is no way to eat. It took time to make this meal. And it should certainly take you time to taste it. Slow down, will you please, and savor.” Then she’d chew quite deliberately to punctuate her point. I tried. But chops, potatoes, peas, it was all just food to me. Dinner. Something you ate at six o’clock.

But her apple pie? Her butterscotch pecan tarts? Her lemon-coconut dream bars? She needn’t rebuke me. I savored, tongue slowly caressing, swirling sweet high and low. I lingered. I ate slowly, tasting.

I’m not quite sure when I began thinking that life wasn’t dessert. Somewhere along the way, somehow, it all sped up; and I got to thinking that life was something that you just hurried up and did. That you scarfed down. That there wasn’t much of it, so you better get it all down fast. Read More