Take Your Time

by Irene Daniel

Take your time. We've been hearing these words since we were children. Running on the sidewalk? Take your time. Figuring out a math problem? Take your time. Slow down. Take your time.

These words of wisdom seem simple enough -- take your time. And yet, in this age of ATMs, instant oatmeal and a 24/7 media blitz urging us to act immediately in order to resolve some emptiness inside of us, how many of us actually know how to do this anymore?

Let's take these words one at a time. Take. Simple concept, right? We take things all the time. We take phone calls; we take freeways, subways, trains, buses and taxies every day. We take chances. We take our children's toys away in order to discourage certain behaviors. And we take a dozen doughnuts home on Sundays.

But how often do take our time? We may give our time away to worthy causes, or we may fritter our time away on mind-numbing entertainment. We sell our time; to our employers in exchange for paychecks, and to our customers in exhcange for cash. But how often do we take our time? How often do we even permit ourselves the healing power of taking a deep breathe, or the freedom to take a walk on a beautiful day? How often do we allow something to take our breath away, like a glorious sunset, the early morning coo of a dove, or holding a sleeping infant?

We take things all the time and mostly, we take a lot for granted. But take our time? Or do we allow our time to be stolen from us by worry, want and chasing our many addictions to substances and material identities? What are you chasing with your time? What do you take time for in your day?

And what of the word "your"? This pronoun trumpets possession: 2nd person, singular and plural. Take your time. Not somebody else's time, but your time. Every one of us has the exact same number of minutes and hours in each day. YOUR time.

This time that I am taking to draft this post belongs to me and no one else. It is I who gets to choose how to spend my time -- every blessed second. I do not have to steal this time or pay for this time because it already belongs to me. Mio, mio, mine!

And what is this thing we call time? Is it a mere linear measure we humans use to make sense of our world and bring order to our lives? One thing is for certain for each and every one of us -- time is a finite resource. I have it on good authority that none of us gets out of here alive! For most of us, time is a blissfully unknown sum certain; but make no mistake, that sum total is finite for every living thing on this planet.

So how are you using your time? What time are you taking just for you? To rest, to relax and enjoy life. To take a hot bath? Or to take a good book to bed, instead of falling asleep to the drama of the late news?

During the Holiday Season, it is very easy run out of time to do all the things we need to do to plan and enjoy festivities. But the fact remains that we can either choose how to spend our time, or we can choose to allow material priorities to take our time.

Somewhere between overindulgence and Ebenezer Scrooge, there is a balance in which we may find grace and serenity. This Christmas season, I hope you find that balance. It's always a challenge for me. Therefore, I humbly and lovingly remind all of us to TAKE YOUR TIME!!


                                                                                                  Irene Daniel, Copyright 2014, All rights reserved.you