Watch My Time


Time didn’t stop, but my watch battery did. I held the watch and thought how much I’d done in the six hours since it had stopped running. 


Dr. Leslie Weatherhead calculated our lifetime based on the hours in a single day. 

So far, this is my day: 

At 10:25 in the morning I was age 15. I liked skiing fast and was learning to drive a car more slowly.

It was almost lunch time, 11:34 when I celebrated 20 years—thankfully I was half-way through college by then. 




By the time I was 25, married and with an active toddler, it was 12:42 PM. 

Even though I’d been told to dread turning 30, it was still only 1:51 in the afternoon when I did. 






Somehow age 35 didn’t faze me, and we moved our family 250 miles to begin an exciting new chapter in our lives. It was now 3:00 PM. 

I didn’t get any black balloons when I turned 40, but it was now 4:08 on the clock. 






The next five years rushed by with my daughter graduating college and my son entering high school. It was already 5:15. 

Turning 50 wasn’t as bad as I expected but I pensively looked at my watch and it was 6:25 in the evening. 














Thinking that time would go slower once the kids were on their own…it didn’t. It was 7:24 by the time I was 55. 









I’m 60 and feel the evening’s tiredness…it’s now 8:42 PM. Lord willing, if I reach 65, it will be 9:51. And by age 70, it will be 11PM. 

King David advised, “Teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are; help us to spend them as we should.” 

The Apostle Paul was a bit more direct: “So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise.” 

In the words of Dr. Seuss, "How did it get late, so soon."

I replaced the watch battery with care, now may I do the same with my time. 



Popular posts from this blog

Dreaming the Dream

Image
Dreaming big dreams about the future is easy for kids. The only thing standing in the way is time.  Kid’s dreams are not about skills, or opportunities, or even practicality. Those things come much later.  My grandson hopes to be professional soccer player when he grows up. This week, a small piece of his dream came true when his Boys and Girls Club was invited to participate in pre-game activities with the Seattle Sounders Football Club.  He got to suit up in a real jersey and walk on the field with a real pro player. Imagine a young soccer player looking up to who he hopes to be one day. If you haven’t taken the time to talk to a child about their future dreams—you should.  They believe. As we get older we sometimes forget that dreams fuel our hopes—and that's something we all need. So, do you still dream? Or have you left those childhood thoughts behind?  S pending time with children will  inspire you to believe agai
Read more

Sexy Selfies: Posting for attention

Image
We’ve all seen the “selfie” pix on Facebook—those self-taken images in varying forms of dress (or undress). Usually they’re female poses taken in public restrooms, dressing rooms, bedrooms, and lots of what used to be private space. Thanks to selfies and social media, it’s open season on privacy—and modesty. Do you have a social media “friend” who has become a serial selfie? Most often selfies are young girls sharing their sexiness with the world. Serial selfies post hundreds of pictures, so it’s hard to ignore the display. The question is why do they do it. While I don’t approve of the sexy display of serial selfies, insecurity is at the root. Selfies collect “likes” to boost morale. The attention received is like a balm to their broken spirits. But the dark side of exhibitionism is feeling used—not unlike the girl searching for love and giving away her body in hopes of finding love. Selfies seek approval. They're locked in a perpetual cycle of posting pi
Read more

Wild or Tame? Which One Are You?

Image
Finally! Research that explains why I act the way I do. Columbia University’s Motivational Science Center studied people’s activities and what brought them the most happiness. Even more telling were how those activities changed as they aged. Twenty-somethings tend to equate happiness with high-energy activities. Words like excited and ecstatic are usually attached to spontaneous things—even risky things—and living life full throttle.  Researchers labeled this Promotion Motivation —the urge to take chances, including career moves that may not work out. Happiness comes from happenings—the more happenings, the more happiness. By age forty, adults associate happiness with things running smoothly at work and home. It’s also about feeling secure in relationships. Keeping healthy matters more too. This behavior is called Prevention Motivation —and people are more concerned with preserving and maintaining the things they value. It appears that time ofte
Read more