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Time

Time. 
Is it something I find? Is it something I make? Is it a priority? How do I spend it? Do I waste it? I can’t get more of it. How much do I have anyway?

How often I find myself asking these questions!

If my starting point for these questions is information-seeking, I may reach one set of conclusions. If; on the other hand, my asking the questions is more rhetorical… more meditative, I may reach an entirely different conclusion.

Right now, I am sitting in a very quiet room on the campus of the University where I am blessed to teach as an adjunct.  The day began at 3:40 a.m. I woke an hour early and worked my way through a cup of tea and a fresh shave before noticing my mistake.  Time.  Time gained or time lost?

At 5:00, I woke my son so that he could prepare for school and the zero hour that we both share. It begins at 6:23 each morning and thrusts us into another language before most weary eyes begin to quiver themselves awake. While having a short morning prayer and feeding our still groggy stomaches, we say little else, mostly because my son is a quiet morning person…quite the foil to my outgoing, ready-to-talk whenever personality.  Still, it is time. Time invested?

Each day the space in which I work is filled with every sort of soul: eager, apprehensive, assertive, aggressive, joyful, sad, triumphant, downtrodden, hopeful…; and these souls fill the room where I get to share language and life with them. Time. Some need very little. Others need very much. How do I spend it?

In the evening I have the pleasure of riding home with two children: one in high school, the other in elementary. We share about our day…some days more…others less. We sometimes grab a snack…or a library book or video.  Other days we head straight home to save time.  Time. How much do I have?

Our family. It is growing older. Out hobbies and interests change and draw us in varying directions.  We eat together, share films together, work together.  We are serious together, sometimes too much so. We laugh. We love each other and frustrate each other. We grow together, I pray. We have time. Time.  It seems to be a currency with a limit. 

I understand that my days(filled with time)are numbered.  All of our days are numbered. How will we invest our time? With whom will we share it? How? To whose benefit? 

As I am convicted of the preciousness of time, I encourage others to look at it, perhaps with new eyes, or a new heart.  

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