September 1, 2001

I have been thinking about time this week. No one seems to have enough of it. There always seems to be a lack of time at the end of the day to accomplish all that we wanted to do. Families struggle to get everything packed into the day - work/school, meals, homework, household chores, rest, activities, etc.

Imagine that there is a bank which credits your account each morning with $86,400, carries over no balance from day to day, allows you to keep no cash balance, and every evening cancels whatever part of the amount you had failed to use during the day.

What would you do? Draw out every cent, of course! Well, everyone has such a bank. Its name is TIME. Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose. It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft.

Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the records of the day. If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours. There is no going back. There is no drawing against the"tomorrow". You must live in the present on today's deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and success!

Everyone seems to want to drain each day of its deep meaning. They do not want to miss anything that is important - work smarter - schedule better - make sure you spend "quality time."

I have news - there is no such thing as quality time that does not come joined at the hip with its siamese twin, QUANTITY TIME.

The quality time - the deep times - the meaningful moments always seem to surprise us while we are on our way to something else. They happen to us if, and only if we are prepared to invest quantity time, to risk "wasting some time" to look at a sunset or listen to a morning dove, or hear what a child or spouse is trying to tell us. I think time managers miss the real quality moments trying to make sure that they have scheduled them in. The deep moments that are filled with meaning just "happen." They cannot be scheduled. And they "happen" only to those who are not in a hurry.

What families need today is not more finely-honed, fast-moving, schedules, but community - the kind of slow-moving, porch-rocking, ice-tea-sipping community with the folk who share the events of their lives.

Treasure every moment that you have! And you will treasure it more if you share it with someone special...special enough to have some of your time.

So tell me....what are you going to do with your 86,400 seconds placed in your time-account today, Saturday, September 30? The clock is running! Make the most of today! (Ephesians 5:15-16)