What does 96 X 15 equal? And no, the answer is not 1,440!!.
The answer: everyday is divided up into 96, 15 minute time periods. If a person took JUST ONE 15 minute ‘time out’ during the day (time outs are wasted on the young) to do whatever--to be quiet, reflect, journal, pray, paint, garden, create, walk, or even have a good old fashioned belly laugh there might be far less stress in a person’s day. So, why don’t people take time for themselves? I think most people do not RUN TO the next calendared event of the day as much as people are RUNNING FROM something. If a person was to slow down long enough or, in the words of Mark Twain, “Dance like no one is watching, sing like no one is listening and love like you’ve never been hurt” a person might make some incredible discoveries, about themselves. Brennan Manning said if a person wants more out of their relationship with God and others they must allow themselves to be loved as they are and not as they should be. Manning went on to say that self hatred is the biggest obstacle that keeps a person from experiencing real joy in life.
What is my connection between ‘time outs’ and self hatred? A person filled with self hatred will AVOID a 15 minute time out because they do not want to be reminded in their time of quiet how shallow their busy life has become. If “busy” is understood as “Being Under Satan’s Yoke”, quiet reflection can be understood as the way to get out from under this same yoke. The Latin word, ‘vocare’ (where we get the word, vocation) is best translated, ‘the voice calling from within’. If a person wants more in life than what they are currently experiencing, take a time out. And in the quietness, you will hear, a Voice calling…..
