Wasting time.
I have known rich men who looked back with regret on lives they felt wasted at the end. They had earned money and built themselves comfortable homes, but had failed to earn respect or build themselves comfortable relationships. I have known poor people who died content, knowing that they had given happiness to the people that they loved. In God’s eyes a person’s achievements are not measured by the things they possess but by the way they spend their time on earth.
Time is one of our most precious gifts. When we give someone time we are giving them a share in our lives. What can we give more precious than that?
No one knows how much time God has put into their personal account. In the end, the value of our lives is not measured by its quantity but by its quality. A person might live only a short time and yet bring goodness into the world, another might die old but look back on a wasted life. Time, once spent cannot be spent again. It is too valuable to waste.
A wise man called Benjamin Franklin once said, “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of.”
If we value our own time then we should value the time others give to us. To waste our own time is foolish but to waste someone else’s time is unkind and un-Christian. Think of all the time we spend waiting for someone to turn up as they have promised only to be disappointed. Think of all the meetings that are cancelled, or start late because someone lacked the simple courtesy of punctuality. It seems a little thing, but adding together the hours we waste, there is a great deal of our lives that we can never have again.
Respect for one another can take many forms, but respecting the value of each other’s time is one of the most important.
With our families too, giving them time is important. How sad it is to hear someone say, “I wish I had spent more time with him, but now it is too late.” Will we say that of God too?
+Peter Fox.
Bishop of Port Moresby.
