Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Time Flies--Truth or Myth?

One of my favorite sayings is that Time flies whether you are having fun or not. Let's discuss. I was talking to a co-worker yesterday at lunch about that very thing. His contention was that time is the same. It goes at the same pace regardless of what you are doing. I know, you are saying, yes, he's right. A minute is the same length regardless of what is happening around you. But at the same time, lets examine that.

If you are busy, the day goes by and is gone before you know it. If on the other hand you are sitting waiting for a light to change, that is the longest minute ever. If you are waiting on your car pool and you got a late start or overslept, they are outside honking before you find your last earring, and then you don't have time to make your lunch.

On the other hand, if you are ready and waiting for them, they take forever to get there even though they pull up at 7:10 every day rain or shine.

If you are sitting in the Dr's office waiting for a shot, how long is that minute? Well, that seems to depend on whether you hate shots or not. If you hate shots, they are there before you can even take a deep breath. If you have someplace else to be in the next few minutes, it seems like they never get there.

If you have company coming and you need to add a few finishing touches to your house--short minutes. If you are trying to finish a project before a meeting starts--short minutes. If you are waiting on news about a loved one--long minutes. If you are living with pain, waiting for your Dr's appointment--long hours.

Time is relational to the events happening in your life. Is that a true statement? I've often said, This is the longest day I've ever spent--most likely, I was not having a good time. When I've said, This day has gone by so fast--most likely, I was having a good time or was very busy.

I'm sure that for my friend Robbin and others who are taking treatments, sitting hooked to the machine that feeds the medicine in, is a long few hours. I also would guess that time between treatments is short. Once the treatments are complete, I would think it seemed to go quicker than thought.

Tell me about your take on time. Do you have a lot of it? Or does it slip away like the song says, "Time keeps on slippin, slippin, into the future". I read a blog yesterday about how pictures today look so young in 10 years. You may think you are fat today, but in ten years, you realize how good you did look back then.

I've spent enough time on this subject. Let me know how you use your time. Wisely or foolishly.

Have a wonderful Wednesday. Love one another.

5 comments:

Will said...

As a minister who works with families, the one thing I hear about more than any other is how their family relates to time. It is more precious a commodity than anything. As a parent with small children, I can see how time whizzes by. What I wouldn't give to "go back" in time and savor the seconds that made up these years that I now only have memories of.

I think one of the most important aspects to remember in relation to how we honor time is to make it redeemable. This simply means spending your time investing into the lives of others and yourself. A family watching TV for hours doesn't use time wisely, it's not redeemable, but spending that same time talking, playing a game, working on a project--that's redeemable.

Thanks for the post.

Anonymous said...

I was just telling my son, this morning, on the way to school...
these are the best years of your life. Laugh and enjoy them, they will be soon be over and it's off to the land of responsibility.

Robbin said...

You nailed it with me Shirley, that's exactly how it goes.
My grandmother used to say, "My the years seem to just tick back so fast." and as a child, anxious to grow up I thought what is she talking about? I now understand for sure what she meant. I've learned recently to live in the moment and try not to wish away my time. Thanks for the post, it is very thought provoking.

Lisa said...

Just Monday I asked my nephew to travel with my husband to return the puppy we had been watching. He was going to travel for 30 minutes there and then of course 30
minutes back. He said no he did not want to be in the car that long. I told him it was only 30 minutes away. He said, yes, but aunt Lisa then it is 30 minutes back and that would be a whole hour. When you are only 10, the "whole hour" is a very long part of your young life. Percentage wise it is a very long time. I thought about it, an hour to me is nothing, but to him and his little young life it is a very long time. I can not imagine how fast time flies for my parents who are in their 70's.
And yesterday when the baby I am keeping cried all day long, it was a VERY LONG DAY. I don't care how many seconds in a minute, how many minutes in an hour and how many hours I kept her....it was a very long day. Today has to be better!

Anonymous said...

If its something fun-time flies. If its something alwful-time drags. And the saying "a watched pot never boils" comes to mind as well.

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