When you are a kid, the flow of time has the consistency of molasses. Here in the South, we use the comparison, "as slow as molasses" quite often. It has been used to describe me and the speed at which I operate more than once. When you are younger, life is about "The Waiting," which, according to Tom Petty, is the hardest part.
There is waiting for Christmas, the next birthday, until you are old enough to do this, that, or the other thing. Waiting until after dinner before you can have your desert.(Adults do not always adhere to this one...not that I would know anything about that...) Waiting until you are old enough to date...to drive...to...do darn near everything.
Conversely, the main complaint that I hear from the older generation is rate at which "time flies."
How there "are not enough hours in the day."
"The years just fly by."
"Where does the time go?"
So which is it...is time too fast or too slow? Friend or foe? If you were to redesign the DNA of time, how would you change it?
It seems that, according to many, both young and old, time is one of the biggest enemies to the way that we would have things to be.
But what if it's not time's fault, but rather, our disregard for it's value...our lack of appreciation for a moment...this one...as you are reading this. What is wrong with this moment? It seems like a perfectly good moment to me...and granted, I am but one observer or partaker of time. Still, I can't find anything particularly wrong with this moment.
Wait, don't tell me...it's too soon, isn't it?
Or it's just too late.
Maybe this is the perfect moment to...do what you've been putting off.
Make the call or visit that you least want to make...then you'll waste less time scheduling around it.
Tell the truth.
Tell someone who needs to know that you love them...that they matter...even if you don't tell them in words...tell them with your actions...even better.
I look at all of the things that I have done in my life to avoid being in a moment that I did not want to be in...the delaying, playing dumb, procrastinating, medicating, protesting, sleeping, lying, plotting...and all because when the moment showed up, I didn't like how it was dressed. So I tried all of these and so many other methods to make the moment look like I wanted it to. Subsequently, a lot of moments left me...and it was my fault. About fifteen years ago, I began to drink from a different stream of teaching. It's nothing new...and it is for sure that I didn't discover it. It is kin to carpe diem, only more immediate. It is about embracing the moment. Each and every one of them. Good, bad, and ugly. Take them as they come and take the gifts that they bring. If the moment brings joy...be lifted, empowered, and encouraged by it. If the moment brings pain...be taught or shaped by it.
It is for certain that I am not above wasting time. If not making good use of one's time were a degreed course, I would have a P.H.D. Over the last several years, however, the bow of my mental/spiritual ship has been turning. It has taken a while. I move like molasses...remember? I have come to the conclusion that time is both a gift and a friend of mine. The joyful moments, that I have been a part of have left me with many beautiful images that can still stir my heart in an instant, and make gratitude well up inside me. The painful moments have been, maybe my greatest teachers.
Yesterday, it was sunny and fifty-two degrees here in Nashville, TN. It has been grey and cold for about the last three weeks. I took an hour out of my day to walk some of the trails out at Radnor Lake. I sat by the lake for some time...just drinking it in.
The merry-go-round stopped.
Gratitude welled up inside me.
I received the gift that the moment had for me.
I am better off.
Time is my friend.
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