I have a mountain of perfectly usable quotes about Christian living, but I wouldn’t dare approach the subject as a paper topic. I don’t have the experience. I don’t have a thesis. I’m eighteen years old, a sophomore who’d leave her college at the drop of a hat; I don’t have any white hairs of wisdom to scratch onto paper. 

I hate that I feel I should begin this with a definition of beauty. We know it when we see it. The kaleidoscope of amber and gold a sunset paints across the sky. A horse running. Wind through tall grass. The sound of laughter. Dodging social interaction earlier today, I stumbled across a line of poetry so beautiful I stopped and read it again three or four times, just to savour the words in meaning and sound. When real, objective beauty is set before us, we know it well. 

It’s an important subject and one I cannot and likely never will do more than brush the surface of. But in any case, quite a number of sources aligned to make me think a great deal about legalism lately. Coincidence seems increasingly unlikely. So here are a few reflections on what has become a very important topic to me.

Growing up, I kept a stack of my ten favourite books at the foot of my bed — primarily for ease of access, but also because they didn’t fit on the shelf. I’m sure there’s nothing too unusual there. What I want to point out is the fact that nine of the ten books were fantasy.

We Christians talk about time a lot, which is odd, considering we say we’re not made for it. Few could claim never to have mourned time’s fleetingness. Children weep over the ends of the summer holidays or of Christmastime. Students moan over how quickly assignments approach, how little sleep they can cram into the few hours of the night. Parents marvel to watch their children grow. The elderly reflect on lives that, however well-lived, were never quite long enough to say what should have been said, to do what should have been done. We comment on how quickly time passes, and reassure ourselves with the thought that we were made for eternity.

As a college student, I dedicate a lot of thought to the subject of learning. Obviously, I’m pouring a lot of time, energy, and money into what can only really be described as “learning.” So inevitably the question begins to occur to me: Am I wasting my time?