Spending Time vs. Hanging Out

This past weekend I went up to visit my grandparents (and my mom as a bonus).  My grandparents don't have a computer or the internet, which I would've been more concerned about had my trip been longer.  As it was, I found it an interesting test to see just how addicted to technology I am (there's no question of if I'm addicted).

What I found most interesting about this test is what we occupied our time with.  We'd wake up early (I was the late riser getting up around 7:30 or 8) and have breakfast together at the dinner table just talking and enjoying delicious food, then we'd stay at the table talking until it was lunch, then we'd eat more delicious food and stay at the table talking a few more hours.

Normally when I'm hanging out with people, I have this need to "do something".  I always feel like I should be watching a movie with them or playing a game with them or doing some other kind of activity with them.  It was really refreshing to not feel this impulse and instead get to really spend time just being with them.

A few weeks ago at church, the lesson was about practicing various spiritual disciplines and one of them was just slowing down.  For example, pick the longest line at the grocery store and take that extra time to just relax.  Ignore the impulses to get everywhere as fast as possible.  I think spending time with people rather than hanging out fits in with that perfectly.  I think if everyone just took 2 hours out of every week to spend time with someone without doing anything, the world would be just that much better.