Do You Have The Time

I’m not specifically asking if you know what time it is although it is pertinent to my thought process. It’s a multilayered statement. First, if I take the time to ask you the time, do you have the time to tell me. Isn’t that what life is, a journey of time. When we stop and think about it, versus just taking it for granted, we realize just how short and precious time is. We waste so much time on unnecessary things, things that really don’t matter. Years of it. We put value in things that have no real long-lasting value. We are selfish and want things when we want them, which is usually in the moment. Now maybe sometimes we plan for things in the future but how is your life lived during that time. And how is your life lived after that planned event? Is it better? Did it solve anything? Did it evoke change or growth? Did it make any difference in the big scheme of things? Allow me to explain. You’re living life, working 9-5, eating, sleeping, paying bills, maybe a movie now and then, maybe a barbeque. You are saving for, I don’t know, that big cruise or vacation. Time passes doing the same old thing minute by minute, hour by hour. The day arrives, you take your trip, it’s amazing, now it’s over, all in a blink of an eye. And you’re back to doing the same routine over and over. Was the trip worth it? What did you gain from it? What did you learn from it? What are you going to forget about it? Now that’s a big question.

You see, we don’t really take the time to fully understand and appreciate time in the very moment of breath. We sometimes do spontaneous things, and sometimes plan things to excite our thought process, but then usually go right back to the drudgery of existence. I’m not saying that life should be lived as a fairy tale, by no means. That kind of living isn’t real. But the truth is life goes by so incredibly fast and then it’s over. The number one issue people have later in life is regret, I think. Because we can’t go back in time. We can’t undo what time has passed. This could be with aging, with health, with finances, with marriages, with millions of choices we have made throughout our years. Each choice takes us on a different path of the journey. Make one choice and you go one direction, make another and go that direction. On and on. But for the most part we don’t fully understand the enormity of those choices and being aware of the direction we are going. And valuable precious time is lost.

When someone asks for the time how hard is it to share in that moment your time with someone? How many moments do we miss because we are so caught up in mundane living and the bubble surrounding us that we aren’t even aware of the moment itself. We have lost to a great extent the common curtesy of being a good steward of time. We don’t open doors; we don’t say please and thank you as much. We don’t have in depth conversations or look people in the eye. We don’t wave and shake hands or hug very much. We don’t value the wisdom of the elderly. We don’t put value in the lives they lived and so easily just put them away in old folks’ homes like a discarded sweater never to be seen again. Time is not prejudiced, and sooner than you think you will be the one who is discarded, and you will be left to ponder just what was the point of living. What did you accomplish in your short time here on earth? What did you miss out on, what energy did you share, receive, and impart to the world around you? Did you take the time to grasp the moment occurring in the now. It’s only too late, if it’s too late. Don’t waste these precious moments, these tidbits of time that can have an everlasting ripple in the big pond of your life. So, I’ll ask as the title does, do you have the time? Maybe it’s time to find out. Times a ticking. And the journey is before you. Now what are you going to do about it?