This Time Flying

Monday, June 22, 2009


I have a new theory about our perspective on the passage of time.

Do you remember how childhood dragged on forever? I think it is because as children, we didn't know how not to live every day to its fullest. Before we grew up, there was no limit to the reach of our imagination - except the limits placed upon us by the practical adults in our lives. I think we probably all felt as children that our parents were just holding us back from all the fun stuff of life we hadn't yet experienced, and we couldn't wait to grow up and be free to live the way we wanted to live with no limitations.

But when we grew up, we discovered that we needed an income to sustain the life we wanted, and our imagined lives were limited by the expense of living them, and by the daily schedule we needed to keep in order to maintain that income. So we learned that really, we can't live without limits until the weekend.

Now Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday have become irrelevant, and the only days we feel like we can really live are on Saturday and Sunday. So we're really only living about 104 days out of the year as we work toward retirement, when we just know we'll be able to live all 365.

As we get older and we wonder where the time goes, I would say, "it's right where it always was, and we don't have less than we used to." We just don't live every moment for all it is worth anymore, as we too often simply exist from responsibility to responsibility. I would suggest that it may be possible to accept and enjoy the responsibility we have Monday-Friday, noticing the things we might otherwise miss while we're drudging our way to the weekend when we get to "really live."

Maybe this is what it means to "redeem the time," not missing the today we are given focusing on a future that may not be ours. It's just a thought, and it's a bit of a ramble, but it's something I've been thinking over the last week.

2 comments:

Jessica said...

I have noticed that I am often just "existing" or "surviving" from one day to the next. Not that I like it AT ALL -- it's just what I do. I am a relationship-oriented person, and I think I am so often looking for more interesting ways to build relationships, instead of taking fuller advantage of the opportunities that I have right in front of me. Plus, being in constant communication with God and building THAT relationship throughout my day. Definitely a work in progress for me at this point, though. :-)

dancebythelight said...

I've definitely struggled to live in the moment. I'm always pursuing what I need to do next instead of enjoying what I'm doing NOW! I'm growing . . .

But I often feel I could feel like time would run on forever like when I was a child. I remember my mom telling me eventually it would seem fast to me, but I couldn't fathom it then.

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