Fringe Hours
by Kari Patterson
Sacred Mundane
It is late as I write this. Way late. I’m a 9pm bedtime girl and let’s just say it’s not 9pm. I’m undertaking a little writing project, which is exciting to me because I love to write more than just about anything else in the world. Apparently more than sleep. But last night in a tired-moment I said to Jeff, “I don’t have time to write. It’s what I love to do but I literally do not have any free time during my days.” Of course he offered to help in a dozen different ways, but that’s not really it. It’s just that life, glorious life, is full. Full of joys and blessed busyness that I wouldn’t trade for anything. But still, full.
Then I remembered that Ann Voskamp said she wrote in the darkness, during the fringe hours of her days.
Fringe hours.
Isn’t that where the course of our life is truly determined? Most of our mid-day hours are decided for us. They are at work, changing diapers, running errands. A dozen employees in a company may look much the same from 9-5 but it is what they do during the fringe hours of the day that makes them who they are. Really, the fringe hours are the only ones that are ours, so of course they are pregnant with possibility. And especially as moms, the really fringe hours (think dark outside) are often the only ones we really have to ourselves.
So I’m thinking it’s important to invest more in the fringe.
People on the fringe. Ministry on the fringe. Moments on the fringe.
Words on the fringe.
So it’s dark and my screen is lit. My house is silent except for quiet clicking of keys. I’ll keep writing on the fringe and maybe, just maybe, all those fringes will add up into something beautiful.
Something whole.
What do you do with your fringe hours? When you add them all up, what will they become?
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