I don’t want to waste your time but I have a riddle for you…

What is something you cannot see, something you cannot hold, but one of the most precious gifts you can give?

Your time.

Another year is almost over. Days seem to have flown by. Others have finished excruciatingly slowly. Each day has consisted of the same number of hours, but our sense of time passing is relative and dependent on personal experience, age, physical condition, and factors both in and beyond our control.

As you look back over this year are you happy with how you’ve spent your time?

What would you change? What could you have changed?

You may be a child and your time is dictated by adults and school. Maybe you are in a relationship so have committed the use of your time to be shared and agreed on with another person. Perhaps you are the parent of young children and you only have had the time to keep your head above water. Do you view your time as something to manage, endure or just work within? Do you appreciate having time? I wonder if you too wished you had more.

If you are taking the time to read this post, let me ask you some questions which I’ve asked myself as this year draws to a close.

How has the way you have spent this year influenced who you are today? What have you prioritized as good use of your time? Have you grown as a person in wisdom, heart, or talents? Have you used your time to help others grow? And spent enough time on what values you hold dear to your heart? Have you given of your time out of necessity or love? Have you felt entitled to do what you want with your time and spent it pursuing destructive behaviours? Have you wondered how the use of your time has impacted others? Or noticed and appreciated how others have given their time for you? Have you been self-focused or outwardly focused? Have you had too many expectations and constraints on your time?

Time is precious. We know that yesterday cannot be repeated. And we might be aware that tomorrow may never come. All of us can only rely on the time that is in the present and try our best not to take it for granted.  

We live in an age of so much opportunity. Our community, jobs, children, social life and technology brings many people from different walks of life into our lives. We are connected in ways that generations before us could not even dream about. This is a great blessing but also a curse. Do we have the time to keep up with it all? Are our connections and relationships becoming superficial and less authentic as we invest in quantity rather than quality? Do we still have relationships with our children, our family and friends that are deep enough to be safe avenues for connection and allow the messy parts of ourselves to be exposed?

As I look back on this year, my answers to these questions do not always match my desire. Each day is a new day and time is short. So I hope there is time to change.

 

 

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