Time

TIME

 Time…something we spend our whole entire lives talking about, wasting, spending, and running from…until essentially we have run out of it.

 We spend so many moments worrying about things that will never amount to anything. We worry about our physical appearance, our popularity, who has more (or less) than we do, we concern ourselves with who was right (or wrong) to justify why we should ignore ( or avoid) people…that we truly love and care about and in the mean time…the sands in the hour glass of our lives empties out.

 When our time on this Earth is through…what happens? Do we just fade off into nothingness? Do we levitate into the higher plane within our faith? Will we feel heat and scorching fire until we are turned to ash and the whole process starts over and over again? How did we spend our time here? Were we doing what our Creator had intended for us? Or did we waste time on trivial emotions, that road blocked us from our true higher purpose?

 Did anger, frustration, anxiety, and pride keep us from spending our time more wisely? We, after all, we cannot know how much time we have to live, in this life, as we know it. And yet, daily, we waste time and energy…by not spreading love and peace to everyone we come into contact with. Are we not thankful, when we are allowed to open our eyes and take a deep breath of each new day? And what does one do with themselves …when they wasted time not saying I love you to those we hold dearest…and their sand has run out? How do we reconcile that within ourselves? Those faithful will freely say, God is around us…like Angels…and spirits of those who have passed on; so it can be said that we can always say those things. But wouldn’t life have been so much simpler had we just said what was on our heart…and ignored all the negativity that kept us closed off? Wouldn’t it be reassuring to know that we didn’t waste a moment in anger…and told the people we love…how important they are and would always be to us? What if your one kind statement would have eased the pain of another person? Wouldn’t then it have been worth biting our tongues?

 Can’t we see that love and peace can be passed on like an electrical current? Silently we can create a wave of love, understanding, respect, and joy that will result in inner peace. It only takes a minute to pick up a phone, or write a letter…these gestures can be monumental in re-establishing lines of communication with other beings…who, like us, just want to be loved. Can we afford to be nonchalant with our time? If we spent more time being focused on our true task, at hand, there would never be any room for regret.

 There are so many places that could use our time…and by doing so we could embrace each other, as Our Creator had intended. And for those who think they don’t know what they could do, it’s usually no further than your city. How many times have you sat around your home with “nothing to do”? Do you know how many volunteers it takes to run a soup kitchen? Or how many volunteers it would take to help with a shelter for battered and abused women and children? Have you ever taken the time to just listen to an elderly person while they sit on a park bench? Why do we not realize that in order to get to be elderly…we had to do something right? The elderly may have knowledge that can not be obtained in your public library. And it only takes a moment of your “time” to reap the rewards, of someone else’s history.

 We do not have a moment to waste…time waits for no one. Remember that the only thing worse than your sand running out without you finishing your job, while on Earth…is to let some one else’s sand run out before you allow them to touch your troubled heart.

May I Be Excused?

May I Be Excused?

In life, sometimes things just happen...things come together and occasionally they will fall apart. We can not really say how long things will last, and since everything has its purpose under the heavens, the blessing is in the experience.

  Relationships will come and go, marriages can fall apart. It is a sad reality for most of our population. I suppose there are countless reasons why marriages don’t seem to last as long as they did when my grandparents were brought together. I feel certain that the public acceptance of divorce just made the separation a little easier, for some. I am of the belief that when people initially get married it is with the hope that it will last much longer than it usually does.

  While separation can be a sad decision for the adults involved, my concern is not for them. As adults we have the ability to move ahead; we can go forward and deal with whatever life throws our way. My true concern lies with the children, whom have never had to deal with the stigma of a broken home.

  Honestly, I never cared for the term “broken home”. What would make a home broken? Truthfully, two parents can live apart and still actively participate in their children’s lives, effectively. So I don’t believe that term is accurate in that situation. But when the family is actually torn apart, when there is REALLY an absent parent...physically and emotionally, real damage occurs. Broken homes are created by abandonment, neglect, isolation; we break promises and because of that...we break hearts.

  In actuality, the home isn’t broken...just our children’s hopes and dreams. I’m not suggesting that parents stay together for the sake of the child, that doesn’t always create the best atmosphere for the kids either. But I am saying that the “out of sight out of mind” adage can be a sad truth.

  Children are precious, true proof that God exists. When we are blessed with the love of a child, there is nothing that will ever compare to it. I have often heard divorced parents say that they love their child, unfortunately, in more cases than not...it is followed by a “but”. I have heard every excuse imaginable...I have to find myself...I need to get my life straight...I even heard someone say that their child is better off without them.

  But in my opinion, none of those excuses even matter. While we are getting ourselves together, our children our growing; they are experiencing their “firsts”. While we are finding ourselves, our children are learning who they are and what they want to do with their lives. Our children are crawling, walking, and running. Our children are learning how to drink and eat all by themselves. They are going to school for the very first time, they are losing their first tooth. They are playing sports, making friends and making drawings to post on the refrigerator. They are starting high school, dating, going to their prom, and graduating. But more importantly, while we are thinking that our children are better off without us...what our children hear is that our lives are better without them. Children, in this situation don’t think that we divorced their mother or father...they think we divorced them. Children will blame themselves, for anything and everything.

  Before we know it, our kids are grown. And when our grown children come to us and ask why we didn’t love them enough to call or visit...what will we say? What do we say when our grown children demand answers that a joke or toy won’t answer? What do we do when our, once smiling sweet children, become angry and bitter adults? Who do we blame then?

  What do we say when we pray? What do we pray for when we failed to appreciate the gift that our Creator gave us, when we were made parents? What excuse can we give to the one that knows our excuses are just excuses?

  I pray it isn’t too late for you...once we lose time it can’t be bartered back. We can not purchase love. We can not go back in time. Smiles create memories...and memories make life worth living. Handmade birthday cards and macaroni necklaces mean more than any soul searching mission ever would.

  You need only remember this, the most important position that you will ever have is parenthood; and the pay is more rewarding than diamonds or pearls...because children pay you in butterfly kisses. See that smile? It’s the start of another memory...make a few more.