The Importance of Time

Monday, March 12, 2012

I have been thinking a lot about the value of time lately.  We all have 24 hours in a day, but what do we do with those hours?  I hear a lot these days about "living in the moment", but just exactly how is one suppose to do that, when there are so many distractions around us.

For me it has to do with the attention I am giving to a family member, friend, or complete stranger as I   actively listen to what they are saying, or the attention I am paying to a task I am doing.  I used to pride myself into think I was a great multi-tasker. But now, I don't think my the brain is capable of multi-tasking. Oh, I can talk and breathe and do a task, but when it comes to doing high level tasks, other that breathing, I have to give that task my full attention.  Now some might say it is because I am getting older.  I don't think that is necessarily so.   Studies have shown that people in the workplace who are sending emails, answering their phones, sending instant messages or being on Facebook, Twitter or My Space- all at the same time are making 50% more errors and their work takes twice as long to do. We are not supper human.  


Someone once said that" time is an illusion.  There is only a constant change and that is "NOW".  Even the words I just typed is now in the past.  But for some reason, it is so easy to put our attention to everywhere except the "NOW".  


As I think back over the past three months, I cherish these precious moments with family and friends
1.  Skiing at Alta with my son Michael and Grandson Douglas.  
2.  Having enough room in our home to have family and friends stay with us when they are in town. 
3.  Getting our Missouri home rented to Michelle and Marty Martinez on February. 
4.  Staying with Lori, Sean, Kadin and Kaia in February, where we played games together,watched Kaia in her gymnastic class..
5.  Getting my UT drivers license and car registered in UT, so now I am legal.
6.  Sitting in a hospital room with my dear friends Pat Prather while her husband John Prather tried to recover from a fall, putting him in a coma never to regain conscious again.  What a loving feeling in the room during those two weeks he was in a coma.  The morning he graduated from this life into the next, I was with Pat and John's three girls, only five minutes after he passed, and there was the sweetest feeling of peace in his room. It was a feeling of peace and tranquility which I had never experienced before.
7.Attending John Prather's funeral and there reuniting with several dear friends, I hadn't seen in many years from the "singles ward."
8. Driving to a doctors's appointment in only five or ten minutes. 
9.  Picking up my grandchildren,Emy and Gunner Wares from daycare on Tuesday afternoons and taking them to Emy's Dance class where Kim picks them up after she gets off work.
10. Having my daughter Michelle and husband Brad moving to the Salt Lake area and living only four miles from us.
11.  Babysitting my GrandDog (Sadie) when Michelle and Brad are out of town.
12.  Enjoying Sunday Dinners with family members
13.  Being able to fly back to St Louis and attend Kadin's 4th grade class program and enjoying watching her receive recognition for her academic achievements in Reading, Science and Social Studies. 
14.  Reading good books
15.  Having friends over for dinner.
16.  Playing games with friends.
17.  Enjoying my time with husband Richard.

We never know how much TIME we have allot to us.  As it says in the scriptures in Psalms 90:12 .  "Our days are numbered".  We don't know how much Time we have left on this earth.

My focus is going to be on Living my life fully, enjoying what and who is with me and appreciating every moment I have as well as everything the Lord has given me.