As a girl who is quite fond of the finer things in life, I’ve come to realize that the most valuable possession of all is something that can’t be easily procured. In fact, it often seems elusive. It is the most precious of all commodities, time.
When we give the gift of time, whether a few minutes or a few hours, we make a bold statement that above all else, we value the person with whom we’re sharing that given moment.
Our presence tells the person they’re more important than anyone else with whom we could be or anything else we could be doing instead.
Nothing material comes even close to making as strong a statement of what we value.
I’m learning to be more mindful of the impact of every conscious choice I make with time, to be a better steward of this priceless resource.
This weekend, I chose to be with my family for my mom’s seventy-eighth birthday instead of a long weekend in Sonoma with a group of soul sisters. Even though plans had long been in place and plane ticket bought for a fabulous weekend in wine country, I knew my heart belonged in Ohio instead of California. Thanks to my decision to give and receive the gift of time, my soul is nourished and my heart radiant as I fly home from my weekend family visit.
I shared part of the weekend with my nine-year-old niece, Grace, and 16-year-old nephew, Thomas (pictured above during a carefree afternoon of running and playing among a field of concrete corn in Dublin, Ohio), who give me a special opportunity to experience the treasure of time.
In a world where it’s all too easy to dispatch a gift by running into a store or tapping a few keystrokes on line, time is the most precious gift I can give to these kids. Instead of showing up with presents in my suitcase that surely will be discarded as soon as the next big fad hits, I want to be the aunt who demonstrates how important they are to me with the enduring gift of time.
Time truly is the greatest equalizer. No matter how wealthy, smart or privileged, every human being has the same 24 hours in a given day. What sets us apart is how we choose to invest each precious minute.
As Gay Hendricks astutely explains in The Big Leap (New York: HarperCollins, 2009), there are always 24 hours in a day, no more, no less. When we say, “I don’t have time for [fill in the blank],” it’s a polite lie for “I don’t want to do that right now.” The reality is that we have the same amount of time available to us; we are simply choosing one alternative over another for how to use that time.
The next time you start to tell yourself or someone else, “I don’t have time,” hit the pause button and reflect on what you’re really saying. What is it that you’re choosing instead, and is that something or someone else more important? Sometimes it well may be, but I’d venture to guess that won’t always be the case.
Remember that the gift of time starts at home, with yourself. It’s essential to gift ourselves with time every day to nourish our bodies and nurture our souls. Only when we function as the very best version of ourselves can we be in highest service to the Universe.
We can’t magically acquire more time beyond the 24 hours at our disposal each day. What we can do is choose how we spend every minute of each day. Choose wisely.
