How do we cultivate the things that are really important?

We are often so busy there are many things we neglect. In this episode, host Robert Martin discusses 'Time Poor, Soul Rich' with Anne Winckel (author Time Poor, Soul Rich). They talk about ways for busy people to achieve soul richness.

This episode of Bigger questions was recorded under the show's previous title 'Logos Live', in April 2015 as a part of the Time Poor Soul Rich series.

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Bigger questions asked in the conversation

Anne's story

You’re a Christian believer, you grew up in a Christian home on the farm. But the way your father became a Christian believer is intriguing. Can you tell us what happened?

Smaller Questions

The smaller questions were about 'how much you know time saving devices?

Time: the challenges

In 1930 the famous economist John Maynard Keynes claimed that his children and great grand children will only have to work 15 hours a week. The rest would be leisure. Why was Keynes so wrong?

We’re all busy. Have you ever met someone who isn’t busy?

What are the casualties of a busy life?

Time Poor Soul Rich: the book

This is obviously something that you’ve thought about a lot as you’ve written a book, Time Poor Soul Rich. What prompted you to write the book?

How does the book help?

What do you mean by Soul Rich? How are those things enriching to our soul?

What are some 60 second solutions that you can give us now? Things we can do when we go back to the office?

The Bible Reflection

We explore some of these issues in a section of the Old Testament: Psalm 90.

Psalm 90:10,12:

Our days may come to seventy years,

or eighty, if our strength endures;

yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,

for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

Teach us to number our days,

that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

What do you make of these verses?

Is verse 10 depressing or realistic when it suggests that the best of our days are but trouble and sorrow?

So what is a heart of wisdom? Why does numbering our days lead to wisdom?

Psalm 90 makes a time comparison between God and humanity. God is eternal and humanity is temporary. For example in verse 4, ‘A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by’. How does this impact how we number our days?

Do you think verse 14 is promoting deep soul enrichment? ‘Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days?’

Is there something soul enriching about song?

But what about the unbeliever, someone who isn’t a Christian. Can they develop richness in soul?

The Psalm concludes in verse 17 with,

‘May the favor or the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us’

In light of God’s eternity and our finitude, how does this verse change our view of what we do?

The Big Question

So Anne, Time Poor Soul Rich. How do we cultivate the things that are really important?