Time

by Meridith Borta
Elementary Principal

Isn't time a funny thing?

There are always 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, and 24 hours in a day. It doesn't matter what you do, that will always be the case. And yet, have you ever looked at the clock and been amazed at how quickly time has flown by? Is it just me or does it always seem to fly fastest when you just need a little more of it?

And then at other times, you look at the clock and it seems like time is literally crawling along. Is it coincidence that this happens when you cannot wait to get out of something or are excited to go somewhere?

In the hustle and bustle of life, it seems like time is something always just out of our grasp. Especially with the holidays approaching at an alarming rate, we begin to realize that no matter how fast we go or how much we try to hurry to cram everything in, we can always use more.

We all know this feeling, right? And we are all familiar with little quips like “If you’re not 5 minutes early, you’re late” and “Time waits for no man”. As I was writing this entry, I thought I’d research some quotes about time. I can’t say I was surprised that my simple search turned up 1164 quotes. Below were some of my favorites:

 “How did it get so late so soon?”
― Dr. Seuss

 “Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.”
― William Penn

“You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.”
― Charles Buxton

“Time is an equal opportunity employer. Each human being has exactly the same number of hours and minutes every day. Rich people can't buy more hours. Scientists can't invent new minutes. And you can't save time to spend it on another day. Even so, time is amazingly fair and forgiving. No matter how much time you've wasted in the past, you still have an entire tomorrow.”
― Denis Waitley

As I read those quotes, I was struck by two things in my life regarding time.

1) How often I tell my children, “Hurry up! We’re late!” I've even begun to realize that I say it sometimes when we aren't even running late. There is always a sense of go, go, go! Is it okay to just slow down a little bit? It is possible to leave the house calmly without forcing the last person to leap into the moving vehicle as it screeches out of the driveway? I say YES!

2) How often we say, “I didn't have time.” Of course, as a teacher I have heard this excuse many times (usually pertaining to homework, studying, or some project that was assigned 6 weeks prior to the due date), but I know I am guilty of claiming the same when a deadline has come and gone. Chances are there really WAS time, but we simply didn't chose to MAKE the time necessary to do that certain something. We are faced with numerous opportunities each day to choose how to use our time. Do we always make the best choices?  

Psalm 39:4-5 tells us, "Show me, O LORD, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath".

My point is this. Denis Waitley may have stated in his quote above that each of us still has an entire tomorrow, but how important it is to remember that tomorrow is not guaranteed. We all know that time is precious and that we will never get it back, but do we really treat the time that God has given us like we believe this? As we head into this busy holiday season, let’s value the time that we have and use our time in a way that will glorify the Lord.

Ephesians 5:15-16a, “Be very careful, then, how you live-not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity.”