  So I've been thinking a lot about this movie, The Last Samurai. While I know the point of the movie was not what I've been thinking about, let me let you in on the ideas that have been perculating for so long.
Meri and I went to see another attempt to get Tom Cruise an Oscar nomination right in the middle of the Christmas season, which is one of the busiest times of the year for almost everyone. It was the middle of the afternoon on Saturday and because people started shopping early, the place was full of people rewarding themselves at the end of a crazy hectic day. In the middle of the movie Tom Cruise is captured by "horrible" samurai's who desire to keep their country the way it's been for ages because, or course, it's better than the modern approach to things. Cruise's character is only in China to bring about that change and is fully American in his approach to life.
During his stay in this villiage he is changed, but it begins through one realization. While walking throughout the villiage he realizes that everyone only does 2 things with their day. They learn what they do well and do it well, and they spend the remainder of their time in deep religious thought. Since I saw that movie I've reflected on my own spiritual life, and I've recognized the fact that I never spend time in deep religious thought. I started wondering why, and started thinking through what I do on a daily basis. There is no one thing that I do well. There are many things that I do, all of which have the potential to be done well, but none of which have any opportunity to be done in any skillful way because I must quickly move to the next thing.
I am attempting to be a jack of all trades, fully realizing that I am a master of none. The fact of the matter is that I feel like there is not enough time in the day for me to do what I need to do and cultivate relationships, much less my relationship with God. I'm always always trying to get more done, and there is NO time to spend time in deep religious thought. I began to long for a simpler life, and in a sense I still do. The fact is my job does require a lot of me, it takes a ton of my energy and time, and it's quite difficult to balance things the way I would like to.
The fact is though, that there is much more time in a day than I actually use for good. I just have to get better at using those hours for good and not for evil. I guess evil isn't exactly the right word, but maybe you get what I'm saying. I'll dig a little deeper into what I'm talking about later. 
