Time for what?
These past two weeks have been exceptionally busy for me. I never seemed to have the time to write about saving time---hmmm…imagine that. I told myself I was too busy traveling, too busy conducting trainings, too busy providing feedback to my online students. As I was preparing the training for the Shannon County staff, I chose to use Judy Brown’s poem “Fire.”
The message to me from the poem is that the space between the logs is just as important as the logs themselves when building a fire or keeping a fire burning.
I have used that poem many times and it seems to really connect with teachers. This time the poem meant something different to me. The lines, “When we are able to build open spaces in the same way…” provided an ah-ha moment for me. The verb “build” stuck out to me. We build the open spaces, Judy Brown writes. The open spaces do not occur because of the logs we build. We actually have to build the open spaces, as well.
FIRE ~ Judy
Brown
What makes a fire burn
is space between the logs,
a breathing space.
Too much of a good thing,
too many logs
packed in too tight
can douse the flames
almost as surely
as a pail of water would.
is space between the logs,
a breathing space.
Too much of a good thing,
too many logs
packed in too tight
can douse the flames
almost as surely
as a pail of water would.
So building fires
requires attention
to the spaces in between,
as much as to the wood.
requires attention
to the spaces in between,
as much as to the wood.
When we are able to build
open spaces
in the same way
we have learned
to pile on the logs,
then we can come to see how
it is fuel, and absence of the fuel
together, that make fire possible.
open spaces
in the same way
we have learned
to pile on the logs,
then we can come to see how
it is fuel, and absence of the fuel
together, that make fire possible.
We only need to lay a log
lightly from time to time.
lightly from time to time.
A fire
grows
simply because the space is there,
with openings
in which the flame
that knows just how it wants to burn
can find its way.
grows
simply because the space is there,
with openings
in which the flame
that knows just how it wants to burn
can find its way.
So I ask myself, what am I saving time for? If I am saving time doing tasks just so I have time to do more tasks—or lay on more logs, it is no wonder saving time is not so important to me. If I am saving time doing tasks so I time to build open spaces to talk with family on the phone or play a table game with friends or take a walk with my husband, then the time saving strategies do become important.
I
challenge you to ask yourself, “What are you saving time for?” I invite your comments.
