Time is Time, and a Precious Thing at That

What's the big deal with time?

     Have you ever just taken the time to realize just how amazing time is? I mean, time is one thing in this world that never changes. No matter how hard you try, time will not be altered by anything that we do. Sure, you can set the clock backwards to make the time seem longer but in reality, it is still the same amount of time. It took a wonderful Creator to create such a thing.

     When we are younger a whole year seems to take forever to go around, but once you grow a few years older you realize that time actually goes pretty fast.  I remember a time back in grade school when I literally cried on the last day of school not because I would miss school or my teachers, but because the way that I viewed it, fall was going to take an eternity to arrive. Less than three months later, my “eternity” had arrived.

     It isn’t just the fact that my views have changed, it is also the fact that I have now lived longer. I guess what I’m saying is that in the life of a seven-year-old, three months is over three percent of their life. Once you go through a few more years, say when you 17, three months is just over one percent of your life. The same amount of time is now not as “long” of time in your life as it once was.

     I can honestly say that, through the years, when someone said to “be careful because time flies” I didn’t believe them. I guess the first time that I realized this was this last summer; the summer of 2013. Looking back, it surprises me that I didn’t realize it sooner. Not during my Junior Prom or when I started Senior year or even when I was writing my farewell speech. What surprises me the most is that I didn’t even realize it after I graduated—I graduated.

What changed?

     It was this summer, around the second week in August, that I realized that I had been at camp for ten weeks. It felt like maybe four or at the most, six. There was no way that I had actually been gone for ten weeks! Well, there was a way; it was called “growing up.” I guess that at the time I just pushed it off as a “camp thing” and got over the fact that time flew.

     This last week I was sitting in the Student Center on campus when I realized that I had just been sitting in the same exact spot the week prior. When I realized this I literally thought “Wait. Was that last week or was that just a few minutes ago and my memory is going?” The answer is: No. My memory is not going. I just never took the time to think about time.

     Whether we decide to sit in our house all day or go and dance in the puddles that life has given us, time will continue to go. That’s its job. It doesn’t care if we whine and pout and tell it not to go too fast. It doesn’t care, it isn’t alive for you. Time is there every day. Every nap you take, every hour you sleep, every moment you share with your friends and every time you laugh, time is rolling.

What's left to do?

     It’s all up to you on how you spend your time. I can hear it now: “when I was younger, I had to listen to my parents and do what my parents told me to do.” Yes, you did. That was around 18 years of your life, but look at all that is ahead. After you’re out, it is an open opportunity to go out and live your life. Well live it, and live it to the fullest potential possible. Go out and do crazy things with friends, go on a road trip with your family, or finish that “bucket list” you started years ago!

     No matter what you do, do it whole heartedly. Approach it head on and don’t stop until you’re done with what you set out to accomplish. It’s your life, make the most out of what you were given. Maybe even help someone else out on the way.

Colossians 4:5

Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most out of every opportunity.