Time is Precious

What is the greatest gift someone could give you?

Time is an equalizer. It doesn’t bend. It doesn’t show favoritism. The clock ticks at the same beat and rhythm everywhere on our planet and offers the same allotment of 24 hours to every person regardless of age, race, ethnicity or citizenship.

Time does not change. Perspectives change. And as we grow older and mature we realize that time is precious. Our allotment of 24 hours per day won’t stretch for our slowness, and eventually, the number of our days on earth will come to an end.

Because I have already lived all the minutes of my youth, sometimes spending time rather carelessly, I have a growing affection for minutes, and hours spent intentionally.

”There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,“
‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭3‬

Writing, refurbishing worn furniture, sewing and reading are new found investments in time. All of these activities teach me, stretch me and leave something of value behind. My encouragements and blessings will be available to be received by others long after my days here are finished.

Therefore, when a family member or a friend, a neighbor, and most especially a stranger wants to spend some of their valuable minutes enjoying a conversation, sharing a meal or reading one of my books, I feel I have received a gift of inestimable value.

They won’t get those minutes back, and I want each one to walk away feeling as if those moments were fairly traded. Gratitude fills my whole being when I recognize the riches of time someone chose to redeem in my presence.

This understanding on my part creates a desire in me to be gentle and respectful of the person offering to me the gift of their time. My perspective on the limits of time and days requires me to value, listen, care, and honor the gift giver.

”You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure.“
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭39‬:‭5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I don’t always remember to stop, value and appreciate the person and their time. Sometimes, I fail by hurrying through something that deserved my full attention. I’m truly sorry for my mistakes. I’m learning though, and recognizing when I need to apologize. Taking advantage of those forgiveness moments is of the greatest value. There’s a strange learning also that is counterintuitive; to slow down is to better appreciate the minutes regularly, rhythmically passing by.

So thank you, all of you far away loved ones who take time to record a Marco Polo, schedule a FaceTime, and thank you my dear email pen pal for spending some of your irretrievable minutes on me. Oh, and those of you who still sit with pen and paper to write a letter, which I receive by snail mail, please know that I cherish your gift.

Thank you, neighbors who stop to chat as we walk our dogs, take out the trash, or simply meander around the lake. Thank you, dear blog readers, who spend time, precious minutes, reading something I’ve written from my heart. And those of you who spend extra minutes to write back, you just can’t know how much you spur me on to keep writing.

Your time with me is received as a gift of gold. You’ve invested yourself in me, and I’m positively changed by your investment. I simply pray you feel your time with me was well worth the expenditure.

Live Love Brightly,

Lisa