Time – the Great Equalizer

 July 7, 2017

Ordinary Time – Season of Stability

Regardless of how rich or poor, powerful or powerless, whether you are a CEO of a multi-national corporation or a baby, we all get the same amount of time each day. Time cannot be bought or sold, which is good. If not, we would see a whole new market of exploitation with those having money buying time from the poor. People would borrow time from their future until drowning in time debt.

Of course, it isn’t quite that simple. Time as a quantitative measure is the same for all, however time is also relative. Time flies when having fun, drags when bored or fighting a bout with the flu. The same increments of time are experienced differently by different people. Some might say the rich are able to buy time from the poor. They live longer because of better food, better health care and are able to hire others to do unpleasant tasks.

Some live long lives; some have their lives cut unnaturally short. Why the inequity? Is the life of someone who dies at 100 of more value than the child who dies at 10? Theresa of Liseaux died at a young age, only 24, and yet her “little ways” as expressed in her autobiography, The Story of a Soul, remain a spiritual classic inspiring generations long after her death. Theresa of Avila lived into her eighties and also is survived by writings that are spiritual classics. Is one life of greater value than the other?

It’s not the years we live, but the life we put into our years. What matters is not the money we make, the possessions we accumulate, but how well we spend our time regardless of how long we have. In that we are using our time in service to our God, we have lived well. If we live only for ourselves, no matter what we may accomplish, we have not spent our time well.

Each day I pray that I use the time before me as God would have me use it, nothing more, nothing less. This could mean taking time to rest and rejuvenate, time for prayer or being busy with many activities. If it is how God would have me use the day, I can’t go wrong. To try to do more than God asks is a waste of time. To do less than what God asks, is to be less than I can be.

Like manna falling from the sky, daily we all get the same amount of time as a gift from God.  Let us use this gift well.

Teach us to count our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart.          Psalm 90:12

This post is part of a series of reflections on the Church year.   click here to follow blog