Grateful for Time

As the holiday season approaches I am grateful for time.

“Until you value yourself, you won't value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it,” said M. Scott Peck, world-renowned psychiatrist and author of The Road Less Traveled.

Meanwhile, dramatist and creator of Peter Pan, Sir James Matthew Barrie said of time, “You must have been warned against letting the golden hours slip by; but some of them are golden only because we let them slip by.”

Photo: Time well spent (me and my daughter Eden)

No one knows how much time we have. I said in my book, Before My Heart Stops, “There is no expiration date on our birth certificates.”

I often wonder if it has been better to be warned that we are going to die by having a terminal illness or to have no warning at all?

Regardless, we have the now. We have today. We find good counsel in the known phrase, “Don’t put off ‘til tomorrow what you can do today.” Yet in a tone of pause and reflection we have the sarcastic wisdom of Mark Twain’s statement, “Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.”

Whatever our busy lives are consumed with may we take time in our daily routine, after the kids are put to bed, while they’re playing, or when we have a moment at work or in our car before we drive home to take the time to pause, reflect, and meditate on who we are as children of a loving God and what we want to do before we return to Him.

One of my spiritual heroes and 9th President of the LDS Church, David O’ Mckay said, "Meditation is the language of the soul. It is defined as a form of private devotion, or spiritual exercise, consisting in deep, continued reflection on some religious theme. Meditation is a form of prayer." Later he said, "Meditation is one of the most secret, most sacred doors through which we pass into the presence of the Lord."

Here is 3 minutes of peace to enjoy before the holiday rush sets in.