The Dock of the Bay

One of my favorite R & B songs is Otis Redding’s 1968 hit song, “(Sitting on) The Dock of the Bay.” It’s a song from back when pop songs were easy to sing along to (even for me), even though the words were somewhat sad. The lyrics speak of someone whose life hasn’t gone very well. That person laments that he has nothing going his way, and nothing to live for, except to spend his time “sitting on the dock of the bay.” The chorus says it this way:

I’m sittin’ on the dock of the bay
Watching the tide roll away
Ooo, I’m just sittin’ on the dock of the bay
Wastin’ time.

I thought of this song this afternoon as I sat out on our patio, watching some birds fly around our back yard. In a way, I was sitting on the “dock of our bay,” relaxing and watching the “tides of birds” fly away. But was I wasting time by doing so?

How I spend my free time has always been an issue for me. I was raised by a father who never stopped working, either at his office or at home. He seldom watched TV (Yes, we had a TV way back when I was a kid – though it was in black and white and only got in 7 stations – four from Chicago and three from Milwaukee). Instead, he was always working to fix something around the house. If I were available, I could always hear my dad calling me to lend my “strong arms” to his tasks. On a day off school he would wake me up early with the command, “Time to get up and pay for your lodging!” My mom also would encourage me to work hard, telling me to “put some elbow grease into it!”

Later, I saw my work with youth as a calling from God, even before I became a pastor. My work demanded many hours on the job, and preparation time at home; even more, I carried its concerns with me all the time. Therefore, I would feel a bit guilty when I spent my free time doing non-work related things. Once, I met with my boss at work (who was a devout Christian and even more committed to his work than I) and talked about spending my free time doing things totally unrelated to my work (specifically, rock and mineral collecting). I told him I was feeling guilty about it. His answer was: it is good to take a break, and he wished he could relax and get away like I was doing. I took his advice, and found such play times relaxing (even if some guilt remained).

Fast forward to recent years. As many of you know, I have spent several years’ worth of time in a wheelchair, due to a broken foot and resulting ulcers. As one who was always able to do things around the house, I felt bad having to turn over much of my work to my wife. All the yard work, repairs, car maintenance, and vacation/travel prep fell on her or others. Even lifting my chair into the car was easier for her to do; we took the wheelchair with us when we traded in my manual car for an automatic so Karen could test lifting it into the new car. She is stronger than you think.

The other big life change which has caused me to look at how I spend my time is my retirement 2 1/2 years ago. As I anticipated that event, I saw it not as a chance to spend my time “sitting on the dock of the bay,” but rather as freeing me up to do other productive things. Besides catching up on projects around the house which I had put off due to a lack of free time or temporary disabilities (you know, those “I’ll set this aside until I have more time” projects), I planned to do four things:

1. Read from the Bible, classic literature, and history books every day.

2. Learn, relearn, and practice various languages an hour each day. I wanted to improve my fluency in ones I had studied, and learn new ones.

3. Exercise an hour each day.

4. Write something, such as this blog and some books.

So, how have I been doing? The results are mixed. I do read some every day (most recently a book about the Trojan War written in the third century AD). I read from my Greek New Testament – working on # 1 and # 2 above. Just recently I began reviewing my French. And as for writing, I did finish two books and am writing this blog a couple times a month. I also took up crossword puzzles which helps my vocabulary and memory. So far so good.

Now, as for exercise . . . not so much. Now that my foot has healed, I am walking again which should help, and have started using a rowing machine to strengthen my arms and legs, but both workouts have been minimal. I definitely need to do more.

As I ponder how I spend my time, now that it is almost all “free time,” I realize that I do waste a lot of it. Watching cat videos and movies online, playing video games, taking daily naps, and sitting on the patio – all take time that could be better spent – or should I say, more productively spent.

Now that I’ve laid out my present activities (other than some get-togethers with friends and too many doctor visits and procedures), I’d like to share a few observations about leisure time:

1. Work is good. God assigned work to our first parents, even before they sinned. They were commanded to maintain the Garden in which God placed them (Genesis 2:5, 15). It was after Adam and Eve sinned that the work became much more difficult, literally requiring blood, sweat and toil (Genesis 3:17-19). All work which benefits people is a holy vocation, a calling from God.  Think of all the goods and services that benefit our lives and are produced by other people who faithfully carry out their work.

2. Rest is also good. God instituted the Sabbath rest, not only to honor and remember that God created all there is, but also for our benefit to provide us with needed rest. We need periods of rest to recharge our batteries, sort our thoughts and allow emotions to cool, not to mention to recover physically from bodily stresses and injuries. Jesus himself said “the Sabbath was made for man” (Mark 2:27) and took time away from the constant press of the crowds to recover. He needed such a break when John the Baptist was executed, to get away and pray. The fact that the Bible calls eternal life our ultimate Sabbath rest shows that God’s ultimate blessing for us includes a rest from our labors (Hebrews 4:9-10: “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.”).

3. We have a limited amount of time in this life. Back when I turned 13, I realized I was no longer a child, and began to calculate what percentage of my life was behind me and ahead of me. I came up with 18.5 % used and 81.5 % to go. What a cheery adolescent game. Other parents worried about their kids smoking or drinking, mine had an actuary for a son. I have to say that even before retiring, I gave up that little exercise as a bit too scary. But no matter what percentage of expected life spans we have left, all our time is limited, so the ways we spend free time can never be undone; that time is gone and we are all moving forward to the day when time no longer matters.

4. So how we spend our time is important. Scripture says that we will one day have to give an account for everything we do (Romans 14:12, Hebrews 4:13).  I believe that includes our actions toward others, our stewardship of the resources God has given us, and how we use the time we are allotted on this earth. Now, I’m not saying every minute has to be spent in strenuous labor without a moment to rest; rather, I’m just saying let’s be purposeful in how we spend our limited time. There are many wonderful things we can do, and having the time to do them is a gift from God: spending time with loved ones; socializing with friends and Christian brothers and sisters; playing sports (and working out on a rowing machine); traveling; learning and teaching; volunteering to help others in the community; finishing home repairs and improvement projects; keeping the garden (as God commanded Adam and Eve to do); worshiping, praying, and studying God’s Word; and yes, even sitting on the dock of the bay. As with all our work, consider that all our time is dedicated to God and his glory. It is for him that we work, and for him that we play.

So go and enjoy your time, but be intentional about it. Don’t just let one moment slip into another, assuming you have plenty of time ahead of you to eventually “get around to it.” Don’t let the days pass by leaving you to wonder, “Where did the time go?”

As for me, now that my blog is done, I have to decide what to do next: grab a snack, apprender francais, or defend the world against space aliens. Maybe I’ll just go back to sitting on the dock of my patio and watch the birds go by. How about you?

May the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-15, Mark 2:23-27