Time- How Do You Spend It?

Saturday May 2nd

Time to get philosophical! DISCLAIMER: I am writing this to hopefully help, not to make anyone feel bad!

What is time, and why is it so valuable? I'm a drummer. I would say my concept of time is pretty decent. I "keep time." I turn circles made of metal and wood into beats and pulses within our timeline for your enjoyment and my enjoyment. Pretty cool right? I put rhythms together that are predictable, and unpredictable, both giving you a steady flow of time, and a rush of unpredictability. We generally base how good a drummer is upon their underlying feel for time. When a drummer is sporadic, not keeping a steady beat, and all over the place we recognize that as bad, or not as good. Even if you're not a drummer, you recognize it. When a drummer is completely in time we recognize that as good or even great. We recognize it so readily because we are so ingrained to the concept of time. In our finite universe a second never slows down, an hour never speeds up, it is always marching along no matter what. In our best moments we ask for time to slow down. In our worst moments we ask for time to speed up to get us past our present moment. Time stays steady. Even the best drummers aren't as perfect as the second hand of a clock, but we strive to be. We love drumming because it's ingrained in our heartbeat and in our DNA. WHOA. Time is an everything concept, not just a drummer one. Here we go.

For a more formal definition instead of my weird artistic interpretation of time we shall look to Google! The two Google definitions are, "the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole" & "a point of time as measured in hours and minutes." Okay, great, that tells us nothing we don't already know, but now we got the definition. We exist in time, people have existed before us in time, there might be people after us that share in this indefinite timeline, got it. Oh, and we measure it in seconds, minutes, and hours if you didn't know (Google for the win). Why write about this? Well there is a much bigger question at play here. The biggest question is the "WHY?" Tell me if you've heard any of these somewhere "time is valuable," "I wish we had more time," "I wish time would slowdown." Why do we say these things? The bigger overarching question is, why is time itself valuable? It's the most valuable resource in THE WORLD, yet the richest man can't buy any of it. The answer is pretty simple. Our bodies are finite, we live in a finite universe, everyone else around us shares the same *spoiler-alert* "ending." Time is precious because our bodies are precious. We protect each other so that all of us can live as long as possible in this timeline, knowing full well all the money and resources of the world can't stop that *spoiler alert* ENDING. On average we care for and protect babies/children and the elderly with utmost importance because we want to help those that can't always help forward their own "timeline." We care for ourselves in high regard. We do things all for the sake of lengthening our time on Earth, and those that we hold close to us. Every time someone tells you, "you should eat better," "you shouldn't smoke," "you should stop driving like an idiot" it's to help YOU live longer, in essence, acquiring more time. It's funny, we each have a resource bank of time that we don't know the end of. I know when food will run out in my house, I know when soap will run out, I know when my car will run out of gas, I know how much the average drumstick lasts me (not long enough), but that time, man, that I don't know. With all of this knowledge, why do we willingly waste our crumb of time on such things like Facebook, Instagram, and whatever a TikTok is? Why do we waste our time on worry, doubt, anxiety, anger, hostility? We know our time on this Earth is temporary, yet we spend our time as if we were rich with it! We spend on greed, we spend on hate, we spend on aggression towards our fellow neighbor, bought and paid for by our precious time. Chipping away at your individual bank. The other BIG question is, why were we given time? Why are we not infinite on Earth. Why don't we just live forever and have the ability to spend time haphazardly? Why are there only 24 hours in a day, why not 100 hours, or at least one extra hour to not feel guilty about social media scrolling? We are given this small speck of time as a GIFT. Signed, sealed, delivered from our Creator to us. Everyone before you gets 24 hours a day, and everyone after you gets 24 hours a day. YOU were chosen to have this time. Some of us unfortunately don't get as long an amount as others, but YOU get YOUR amount.

My main point: Everyday, we take for granted that we get any time at all. What are you doing with it? Writing a nasty comment, posting a self-indulgent picture, bringing someone else down, writing about love for family and friends, yet posting it while you're at the dinner table right next to them? Watching every episode of The Office for the 20th time? I'm guilty of it, you're guilty of it, we're all guilty of it! Trust me, I'm not writing this to condemn anyone, this is merely an observation. An objective observation to possibly learn by. One HARD lesson that I am still trying to learn. Read a book, find a hobby, play the drums, pray, listen to music, call your grandparents, create something, help your neighbor, do something you have always wanted to do, exercise, create art (of any kind), donate to a local organization, go fishing, play more drums, go out to eat, go for a drive, listen to more music, play the drums, lift someone up, and most importantly praise God that right now, you have more time here than those before you. If you're going to post or comment, help someone, create something, do it out of love. If you're quick to anger, think first, is it a waste of time? And for once, put the phone down, Facebook will still be there when you get back. Time is too precious. Your personal stash is running low. God bless you and yours!

"Let all that you do be done in love."

1 Corinthians 16:14