Everyone is busy nowadays, and my family is a typical example of this society.
My wife is a kitchen helper at a kindergarten. She arrives at the kindergarten at 6 am every weekday to help to prepare breakfast for hundreds of kids. Getting off work at about 18 or 19 o’clock, she would be too tired to do any housework.
My daughter is a senior middle school student. Though the policy of “easing the burden of excessive homework and off-campus tutoring for students undergoing compulsory education” seems to free her from burdens, she tells me that now the involution in schools is absurd. She has to attend online courses at home due to the pandemic. She would wake up at 5 o’clock in the morning to start her practice. And as a proofreader for a website, I have to proofread the news on my phone or computer from morning to evening. I would read each word carefully so that no mistake would be found. Then how could I find the time to read the Bible systematically and pray dedicatedly?
Suddenly I remembered a saying of Lu Xun, a famous Chinese writer, “Time is like the water in a sponge, if you squeeze, you can always get some.”
Every morning, I tend to wake up at 5:30 in the morning, as it is already a habit for me, and I now no longer need any alarm. I dress myself quietly and go to the kitchen to prepare for the breakfast and wash all the vegetables for the day. Then I go to the prayer room with the Bible and a notebook, letting the Holy Spirit remind me whom I should pray for. And that’s how I start my day with God’s words.
Then the time is sweet for me to talk to God, though sometimes I may need to prepare a cup of warm water for my daughter and cook gruel, and then go back to pray. When I’m reading the Bible, I would estimate the time, such as when I need to turn down the fire, and when I need to put it out.
I don’t know whether I’m dedicated enough to this, but I don’t think that the time to pray must be a whole uninterrupted period of time. If I don’t do these things to take care of my family, there may be dissatisfaction or anger. The morning prayer would take away the chance to sleep late, but it’s totally worth it. In this era, everyone is very busy. But we must keep connecting to God in the morning. Though taking care of my family would take some of my time in the morning, I still feel that I’ve been connected to God and I’m grateful for that.
Commuting is a very good chance to learn something new about God. I seldom take the bus or the subway, for these places are noisy. But if I ride a bicycle or something to and from work, I can listen to something about the Bible, like sermons or hymns. I’ve learned many hymns and listened to many sermons on my way to and from my work.
Sometimes, I would go for a walk after work. Walking along the paths of some parks, I would marvel at the beautiful world that God had created, with prayers full of gratefulness and praise. In the sunshine, I would walk in the meadow, with God in my heart.
A few years ago, it was very easy for me to find time to be close to God. I had been a cashier for many years. The daily routine involved making a deposit in the bank. There were queues at banks, and it often took an hour or two. I would begin to get restless. I was eager to go back to work and complained about the bank staff being slow and customers jumping the queue. But then, while I was waiting at the bank, I’d copy the hymns I wanted to learn, open the page, and focus on the beat, the score, the notes, and the lyrics. Before I knew it, it was my turn. While waiting, my anxious heart was calmed, and I had learned hymns. Joy and peace filled my heart instead.
And now I began to write for the Lord. In fact, it takes only small segments of time, for I need to squeeze out the time bit by bit. In fact, the most difficult part about writing is finding out what to write. I often get stuck, for many days, and can not write a single word. Then I need to find a quiet place and pray to the Lord to know how I should speak for the Lord.
And often, inspiration comes when I am riding on the road; Or in bed in the early morning, or in the dead of night when my wife urges me to go to bed.
If I choose to put down the new idea at that time, or even say, “I will write it at work” or “I will write it tomorrow morning”, then the inspiration disappears without a trace. So I must immediately stop what my body wants to do, and no longer move forward, or do not go to bed, and immediately come to the Lord, pick up a pen and paper, and start writing.
Because if I do not grasp the flash of inspiration, I will lose it and won’t know what to write even if I rack my brain.
In the current society, TikTok and other social media apps become popular on the Internet precisely because they adapt to the psychological characteristics of people’s distraction and lack of much time in the “fragmentation” era. Many people spend precious time watching short, meaningless but funny small videos that last less than a minute or even in some cases about ten seconds. Everyone is busy, but we just keep watching them, until the dead of night, with a lot of time wasted.
“Then the king said to me, ‘What do you request?’ So I prayed to the God of heaven.”(Nehemiah 2:4)
When Nehemiah, the cupbearer of the conquered Israel, was suddenly questioned by the king with a sad face, his heart must have been terrified, because if he gave an incorrect answer or misled the king into thinking that he was endangering the king's safety, he would surely be beheaded. But Nehemiah, at this critical moment, prayed to God the Father before replying to the king.
This tells us that no matter what happens, our hearts should first turn to the Lord for guidance and help. This has also become a secret for me to cope with the impact of the “fragmentation” era. Although my body is busy, and my mind and eyes have to experience one after another jumping, irrelevant and even urgent events, no matter what happens, I would first ask my Lord from my heart, pray silently and commit to him, and communicate with him in my heart. In the age of fragmentation, I seek a “fragmented” connection with the Lord, practicing “pray without ceasing” anytime, and anywhere. (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
The pandemic has changed our lives, and even our faith, and let us go deeper and deeper, to the Lord, to tear open the layers of the shells, to grasp the “indispensable”, that is, a peaceful heart in the deepest part of our lives. Although we are busy with work and life, although there are countless pieces of information, and all kinds of business disturbances, although many chores grab at us and compete for our time and energy, we must still give our hearts to the Lord, we must worship him with heart and honesty, and we must bring all the resources of our lives together to live for him and put them before him. We are in Christ, the branch rooted in the true vine of Christ, and our bond with Him is in every minute and every moment. Amen.
Note: This is a freelance article written by a Christian from Henan province.
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
今天大家都挺忙的，我的家也是这个社会的一个缩影。
妻在一家幼儿园干帮厨，每天早出（六点到园）为数百名小朋友准备早餐，晚归（六七点才到家），每天累得到家就“躺平”，如何忍心让她干家务？
女儿上九年级，今年要考高中了。虽然双减看似不用上课外辅导班了，但用她自己的话“内卷”的都疯了！虽然近期因疫情在家上网课，早上也要五点多起床，晨练、早读……而我，自从干了网站的校对，也是忙得一天从早到晚盯着手机、电脑，一篇篇新闻、一个字、一个标点符号地过，生怕出了差错，让读者笑我们的官媒。那么，如何有时间再系统地读圣经、安静地祈祷，在神学上进深，在灵修上长进，常在基督里，与主交通，不住地祷告呢？
想起鲁迅先生一句话：“时间就像海绵里的水，只要挤，总是有的。”
晨五点半，因为形成习惯，不需要闹钟，已清醒了。悄悄穿衣起床，先到厨房，将早餐要吃的熬粥材料及包子准备好，也把菜淘洗干净，然后，来到祈祷室，准备好圣经、祈祷本、日记本等，安静主前，让圣灵提醒我该如何，为谁向主祈祷，也将一天的光阴交在主圣手当中。
接下来的时间，是甜美而温馨的，与主相交的时光。但有时，女儿起床了，我会给她倒上一杯温开水，然后到厨房开始熬粥，再回到小屋祈祷。或开始读经，熬粥需要时间，我会在读经过程中预估时间：该改小火了；该关火了；该遛包子了；该炒菜了……
在不同的时刻，悄然起身，到厨房去准备，然后，在吃饭时间将至之时，我也读完圣经，祈祷过，而饭菜也同步做好了。
我不知是否自己不够虔诚，但我想敬拜主的时间不一定要完整，而放弃了服侍家人的机会，这可能会引家庭的不满和危机。但我们的晨更是一定要付出代价的，要早起，不能沉睡，要如主一样服侍，要更多放下自己，舍弃享受的机会。忙碌的时代，每个人都在加速度；都感觉时间不够用。但早晨一定是要亲近主的。虽然服侍家人占用了一些时间，但我心中一直是与主联结，以感恩和爱与主亲近的。
上下班的路上，也是个难得的“碎片”时间。我一般不挤公交、不打地铁，因为公众场合，很难会自己安静；而是骑车上下班，这样，我就可以打开圣经机，以最大声播放圣经及讲道、赞美诗。其实许多非常好听的圣歌，就是在上下班路上反复听，听会的。也在日复一日的旅途中，听完了许多牧师的讲道。
而在悠闲的下班后的时间，我也常找时间出去散步，行走在花园间、公园小径上，边欣赏天父所创造的奇妙大自然，边用心灵和诚实向主祈祷、感谢和赞美。在一阵轻风、几声鸟鸣、温暖的阳光、轻柔的草地……中，与主同行。
而在前些年的办公事项上，依然能找出时间亲近主。记得自己干过多年单位出纳，每天例行公事要到银行存款，而那时银行是要排队等候的，常常一等就是一两小时，开始焦躁不安，急于回单位而报怨银行工作人员办事效率慢，客户插队等，但后来，我把要学的圣歌复印下来，在银行等候的时间，打开歌页，专注在节拍、谱子、音符和歌词当中，不知不觉，就轮到自己了。而这等候的时光，焦躁之心一扫而空，学会了圣歌，代之的是满满的喜悦和平安。
而今天我也开始为主而写作，其实也不过是碎片化时间，一点一点挤出来的。写作，其实最难的，是写什么。常有卡壳的时候，一连多日，一个字也写不出来。这时，就需要安静祷告主前，求主赐我亮光，知道当为主怎样发声。
而常常，感动来时是在路上，正骑行在人流如织的大街上；又或者在清晨尚未爬起的床上，又或者夜深人静，妻子催促上床之时，怎么办？
我若当时选择放下感动，甚至是说：“到单位再写吧”“明晨再记吧”转眼，那感动消失得无影无踪，我必须立即、马上停下自己肉体要做的事，不再前行，不上床睡觉，立即来到主前，拿起纸笔，开始记录……
因为一旦没有抓住那转瞬即逝的感动，过后绞尽脑汁，都想不起来要写什么了。
今天社会，抖音等类小视频火爆网络，正是适应了“碎片化”时代人注意力分散，缺乏完整时间的心理特征而兴起的。许多人把大把宝贵时光耗费在刷一个又一个不到一分钟甚至是十几秒、精彩而短小、无意义、无深度，但却是搞笑、娱乐、引人哈哈一笑的小视频上，因为大家都很忙，但却不由自主地滑动手指，看到深夜无眠，生命，也就此缓缓流逝！
“王问我说：‘你要求什么？’于是我默祷天上的神。” （尼2:4）
当以色列亡国被掳时期的酒政尼希米面带愁容，突然被国王问询时，内心一定是惊慌害怕的，因为倘回答不对，或让君王误以为危及自身安全，是一定会被杀头的。但尼希米在此紧要关头，却是先向天父上帝默祷，然后才回复君王。
这就启示我们：无论外界发生天太的事，我们的心应当首先来到天父面前，寻求他的指引和帮助。而这，也成为我应对“碎片化”时代冲击的一个秘诀，我身虽忙碌，头脑、眼睛虽不得不经历一个又一个跳跃的、毫不相干的、甚至是紧急的事件，但无论遇见什么，我先从心中向我的主求问，默祷交托，与主在灵里交通。碎片化时代， 我寻求一种与主“碎片化”的交通，随时、随地、践行“不住地祷告”（贴前5:17）
疫情改变了我们的生活，甚至是信仰，让我们不断地进深，来到主的面前，撕开一层层外壳，抓住那“不可少的”，在我们的生命最深处，有一处宁静的中心。虽然我们工作、生活忙碌；虽然千万信息，各种事务打扰；虽然许多杂务都在抓住我们，争夺我们的时间和精力，但是，我们将心归给主，我们以心灵和诚实来敬拜主，亲近神，我们整合生命中一切的资源，为主而活，为主摆上。我们是在主基督里，是扎根在主真葡萄树上的枝子，与主的联结，是每时每刻，每分每秒的，阿们。
注：本文为特约/自由撰稿人文章，作者系河南一名基督徒。
用碎片化时间亲近主——“后疫情时代”我的信仰生活
Everyone is busy nowadays, and my family is a typical example of this society.
My wife is a kitchen helper at a kindergarten. She arrives at the kindergarten at 6 am every weekday to help to prepare breakfast for hundreds of kids. Getting off work at about 18 or 19 o’clock, she would be too tired to do any housework.
My daughter is a senior middle school student. Though the policy of “easing the burden of excessive homework and off-campus tutoring for students undergoing compulsory education” seems to free her from burdens, she tells me that now the involution in schools is absurd. She has to attend online courses at home due to the pandemic. She would wake up at 5 o’clock in the morning to start her practice. And as a proofreader for a website, I have to proofread the news on my phone or computer from morning to evening. I would read each word carefully so that no mistake would be found. Then how could I find the time to read the Bible systematically and pray dedicatedly?
Suddenly I remembered a saying of Lu Xun, a famous Chinese writer, “Time is like the water in a sponge, if you squeeze, you can always get some.”
Every morning, I tend to wake up at 5:30 in the morning, as it is already a habit for me, and I now no longer need any alarm. I dress myself quietly and go to the kitchen to prepare for the breakfast and wash all the vegetables for the day. Then I go to the prayer room with the Bible and a notebook, letting the Holy Spirit remind me whom I should pray for. And that’s how I start my day with God’s words.
Then the time is sweet for me to talk to God, though sometimes I may need to prepare a cup of warm water for my daughter and cook gruel, and then go back to pray. When I’m reading the Bible, I would estimate the time, such as when I need to turn down the fire, and when I need to put it out.
I don’t know whether I’m dedicated enough to this, but I don’t think that the time to pray must be a whole uninterrupted period of time. If I don’t do these things to take care of my family, there may be dissatisfaction or anger. The morning prayer would take away the chance to sleep late, but it’s totally worth it. In this era, everyone is very busy. But we must keep connecting to God in the morning. Though taking care of my family would take some of my time in the morning, I still feel that I’ve been connected to God and I’m grateful for that.
Commuting is a very good chance to learn something new about God. I seldom take the bus or the subway, for these places are noisy. But if I ride a bicycle or something to and from work, I can listen to something about the Bible, like sermons or hymns. I’ve learned many hymns and listened to many sermons on my way to and from my work.
Sometimes, I would go for a walk after work. Walking along the paths of some parks, I would marvel at the beautiful world that God had created, with prayers full of gratefulness and praise. In the sunshine, I would walk in the meadow, with God in my heart.
A few years ago, it was very easy for me to find time to be close to God. I had been a cashier for many years. The daily routine involved making a deposit in the bank. There were queues at banks, and it often took an hour or two. I would begin to get restless. I was eager to go back to work and complained about the bank staff being slow and customers jumping the queue. But then, while I was waiting at the bank, I’d copy the hymns I wanted to learn, open the page, and focus on the beat, the score, the notes, and the lyrics. Before I knew it, it was my turn. While waiting, my anxious heart was calmed, and I had learned hymns. Joy and peace filled my heart instead.
And now I began to write for the Lord. In fact, it takes only small segments of time, for I need to squeeze out the time bit by bit. In fact, the most difficult part about writing is finding out what to write. I often get stuck, for many days, and can not write a single word. Then I need to find a quiet place and pray to the Lord to know how I should speak for the Lord.
And often, inspiration comes when I am riding on the road; Or in bed in the early morning, or in the dead of night when my wife urges me to go to bed.
If I choose to put down the new idea at that time, or even say, “I will write it at work” or “I will write it tomorrow morning”, then the inspiration disappears without a trace. So I must immediately stop what my body wants to do, and no longer move forward, or do not go to bed, and immediately come to the Lord, pick up a pen and paper, and start writing.
Because if I do not grasp the flash of inspiration, I will lose it and won’t know what to write even if I rack my brain.
In the current society, TikTok and other social media apps become popular on the Internet precisely because they adapt to the psychological characteristics of people’s distraction and lack of much time in the “fragmentation” era. Many people spend precious time watching short, meaningless but funny small videos that last less than a minute or even in some cases about ten seconds. Everyone is busy, but we just keep watching them, until the dead of night, with a lot of time wasted.
“Then the king said to me, ‘What do you request?’ So I prayed to the God of heaven.”(Nehemiah 2:4)
When Nehemiah, the cupbearer of the conquered Israel, was suddenly questioned by the king with a sad face, his heart must have been terrified, because if he gave an incorrect answer or misled the king into thinking that he was endangering the king's safety, he would surely be beheaded. But Nehemiah, at this critical moment, prayed to God the Father before replying to the king.
This tells us that no matter what happens, our hearts should first turn to the Lord for guidance and help. This has also become a secret for me to cope with the impact of the “fragmentation” era. Although my body is busy, and my mind and eyes have to experience one after another jumping, irrelevant and even urgent events, no matter what happens, I would first ask my Lord from my heart, pray silently and commit to him, and communicate with him in my heart. In the age of fragmentation, I seek a “fragmented” connection with the Lord, practicing “pray without ceasing” anytime, and anywhere. (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
The pandemic has changed our lives, and even our faith, and let us go deeper and deeper, to the Lord, to tear open the layers of the shells, to grasp the “indispensable”, that is, a peaceful heart in the deepest part of our lives. Although we are busy with work and life, although there are countless pieces of information, and all kinds of business disturbances, although many chores grab at us and compete for our time and energy, we must still give our hearts to the Lord, we must worship him with heart and honesty, and we must bring all the resources of our lives together to live for him and put them before him. We are in Christ, the branch rooted in the true vine of Christ, and our bond with Him is in every minute and every moment. Amen.
Note: This is a freelance article written by a Christian from Henan province.
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
'Being Close to God With My Fragmented Time': My Faith Life in Post-Pandemic Time
