Time

We often think we don't have enough of this. Time. It's such a precious word. It's how we spend our life. Our life on this earth exists in time, but the value of it is when it's connected outside of time, that is, to eternity. We have time for the things we want to make time for. If there's a sense that our days are so full that "we don't have time" then maybe we should ask ourselves, why am I doing what I'm doing?

When we come to the end of our life and look back on it, what will have meant the most then? Because there will come a time when there really is no more time, and that's what we have to pay attention to. We should be spending ourselves in the growth of charity . . . in loving God, loving others, loving ourselves..."in the evening of life we will be judged on love alone," says St John of the Cross.

What does time mean to you? Is it just getting things done? Is it waiting for your life to begin in a vocation? Is it lingering in the past? If we look at time in these ways, it just simply isn't meaningful. The present moment is all we have and as Tolkien says, "all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." I think the key word here is "given." Time is a gift by which we must love God and merit heaven.

Some people really hate their birthday...but getting a year older means we are one year closer to our life with God in eternity, which we can begin here on earth...through prayer, through the Sacraments, through our encounters with others, and above all--time well spent with joy in our life.