Free Time
One
What do you do with your free time?
We are living in an era where almost everyone has more free time than perhaps ever before in human history. Think of the time we spend texting, on social media, watching videos online and on television, and playing games on our devices, just the sheer amount of screen time that people watch. That by itself shows how much free time we have.
Now, if you’re trying to be a faithful Christian, every part of you, every aspect of your life, every moment is supposed to be directed to growing closer to God. Everything about your life is supposed to be directed to the real project of life, that is, becoming like God.
So is the way you’re using your free time helping you become more human and more divine?
Two
What is free time?
People will have different opinions on what counts as free time. Here’s our working definition of free time: Free time is when you have time left over, time available after you’ve spent time with God in prayer, your family doesn’t need you, and your work and broader community obligations have been fulfilled.
So basically, when you don’t need to be explicitly thinking about God or your neighbor, what should you do?
You should focus on nourishing your soul. To understand where we are going here you need to understand how your spirit and your soul are distinct things. For this it is best to use the Biblical way of understanding the human person.
We are comprised of body, soul, and spirit. The body refers to our physical component. The soul refers to its three powers: the intellect, will, and emotions. The spirit refers to our capacity for intimate relationship with God.
With free time or leisure time, we have the chance to nourish the soul, namely the powers of your soul, with the “food” they need. We need to feed the intellect, our mind, with truth.We need to feed our passions, our heart, with beauty.
But how, exactly, are we going to do that?
Three
What is your soul absorbing?
Your body is constantly absorbing things from the surrounding environment. You can’t help it. You need to absorb oxygen, you need to absorb food and water.
Your soul is the same way. As long as you’re conscious, your soul is absorbing the things in front of you and around you. So what are you filling your soul with?
Are you filling your soul with good food, good drink, and clean air? Or are you filling your soul with junk food, soda, and smoke? Or, worst of all, do you spend your free time ingesting pure poison into your soul? Do you fill your eyes, your ears, and your mind with filth and ugliness?
The way you nourish your body will determine the health of your body. And the way you nourish your soul will determine the health of your soul. And your free time is your time to nourish your soul.
The intellect needs to be fed with truth, the emotions with beauty.
So are you feeding your soul with the things that will make it healthy?
What are you putting into it?
Four
Idleness and Perversion
Distraction is the junk food of free time. It’s the coke bottle of free time. It’s where you just sit and scroll, looking for cheap entertainment, thoughtless stimulation from the internet or TV.
Whether it’s sports highlights or tired political commentary or games on your phone or an utterly predictable action movie or rom-com… these things aren’t necessarily evil any more than a can of coke or a big piece of chocolate cake are evil. But man, you do not want that to be your main diet for feeding your soul.
And worse than that, many people use their free time to absolutely poison the soul.
Social media gossip, hyper-violent or sexual movies or shows, podcasts where a political or religious commentator does nothing but insult other children of God, or reality TV where the point is just to entertain yourself with other people’s hideous personal and family dysfunction. Then, of course, there’s pornography.
You’re breathing in toxic fumes with that stuff. Drinking anti-freeze. Eating lead paint chips. Absorbing things that will ruin your mind and heart.
What will we have to say for ourselves, if this is what we do in our free time?
How will we stand before God when He says, “I gave you the gift of leisure time so that you could nourish the powers of your soul, renew yourself, be happy, and rejoice in the beauty of life. How did you use it?”
Five
How do you Nourish the Soul?
We nourish the body by eating what is healthy and delightful. That means real food, well-prepared food. And that doesn’t happen automatically.
It’s not as easy as stopping at a gas station and grabbing some chips, candy bars, and one of those nasty hot dogs that’s been rolling for who knows how long on that little grill-thing. You have to discipline yourself to delight in real food, and you have to learn how to find it, how to shop for it, how to prepare it.
So are you willing to do the same thing for your soul? For the powers of your soul, the intellect and emotions? Are you willing to find healthy leisure? Are you willing to develop the discipline that will enable you to enjoy truth, goodness, and beauty?
The first step is going to be a willingness to put down the junk and the poison you’ve been addicted to.
That’s a hard step. But if you’re willing to let go of those things and go off in search of good things…then suddenly, your free time becomes one of God’s greatest gifts, a chance to become happier on this earth, and better prepared for the eternal delights of Heaven.