“Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in.” (Henry David Thoreau)
How we do talk about time! We save it. We waste it. We beg for it. We need it. We wish for it. If I only had more time, we’re wont to say. With time, I could do so much more, we promise. Where did the time go, we ask. And the truth is time hasn’t gone anywhere different than it has since the beginning of time. It ticks by. Each second irretrievably gone as it makes way for the next second to follow.
Leonardo da Vinci said, “Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it.” He certainly used his time to make a place in history. Perhaps that was part of his genius – the mastery of his time.
But these days, we are so sure we can make time that we even add and subtract hours. Last night we added back the hour we subtracted last spring. That’s what has me thinking about time. That and the fact that lately a question surfaces in my mind several times every day. How much time do I have? Not the big question of how many days I have left here on earth, but the little question of whether I have enough time to do this or that task before I must do this or that other thing.
Time has been something I’ve seemed to have in short supply lately. Of course, that’s not true. The time in my days is the same. It’s the use of my time that is giving me troubles. Perhaps this quote explains my problem. “Time is like a handful of sand – the tighter you grasp it, the faster it runs through your fingers.” (Unknown author)
I don’t have as much available to work time as I did before my mother began walking through her confusing valley of dementia. But I still have time enough if I could only reach for that time with determined patience and not worry that it won’t be time enough. Then again, who among us knows if we’ll have time enough? And time enough for what? Perhaps that is the question we need to answer first. What is it that we want? Tomorrow when we look back on today are we going to be pleased with our spent time?
I know you’ve heard people say use it or lose it. But with time it passes whether we use it or simply let it slide past. So here’s one last quote from A.A. Milne that I’m hoping will inspire me as I come up with a new schedule for working in the weeks ahead. “Time is swift, it races by; Opportunities are born and die…Still you wait and will not try-A bird with wings who dares not rise and fly.”
Do I have enough time? I suppose only time will tell. But I don’t want to be the bird with wings who dares not rise and fly.
What do you think about time? Do you have time enough for the things you want to do? My wish for you is that joy will fill the hour glass of your life. Thanks for reading.