“Time is an equal opportunity employer. Each human being has exactly the same number of hours and minutes every day. Rich people can't buy more hours. Scientists can't invent new minutes. And you can't save time to spend it on another day. Even so, time is amazingly fair and forgiving. No matter how much time you've wasted in the past, you still have an entire tomorrow.” ~Denis Waitely
In January, many folks have rituals they perform – make a resolution or two for the year; evaluate the past year in a journal and plan the next; burn something to symbolize closure of a difficult year. I’m not much for ritual, nor do I spend a lot of time evaluating the past, other than mining the gold nuggets from my experiences. I did continue my daily habit of gratitude and, in reviewing the year, I extended that to gratitude for the blessings I received in 2008.
When I came upon this quote, it summarized an exercise I had done when I was doing my gold mining a couple of weeks ago. So what happens to my time? Let’s see – there are 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in 7 days. Work and the commute comprise 50 hours. Sleep takes up 49 hours. Morning preparation (critter care, mostly) and dinnertime takes 21 hours. I devote about 16 hours to quality time with Maggie and my family, and another 8 hours on maintaining the house. So that’s 50 + 49 + 21 + 16 + 8 = 144 hours. That leaves 24 hours a week, 1,248 hours in a year. That’s more than a half-time job! I had some project time, like the Halloween party and my Christmas baking, but that certainly didn’t take 1,200 hours. So knowing that I have 1,248 hours at my disposal, it is time to work on my “entire tomorrow”.
In my last blog edition, I talked about reading, and someone responded that she has no time to read. For many, that’s very true – our lives fill up with chores and conversations and other snippets of time consumption. Life for many is a sleep-eat-work cycle, with month after month passing in a flash. For me, it’s critical that I continue to grow and learn, but it is a function of the “how” I read within the context of time. I don’t sit down with a book very often, and I don’t spend much time with the newspaper in the morning. I do, however, listen to books while I am cleaning my house, working on my prayer shawls (more about that in another blog), tending to my garden, or shoveling snow. I listen to at least ten minutes of a book every evening before I meditate myself to sleep.
My iPod is a wonderful gadget! And with free podcasts to supplement the audio books, it’s not even expensive. No bells and whistles and keypads and touch screens – just good, old-fashioned listening. Sure I listen to music, but I mostly listen to audio books – over 25 books last year. It’s like the days of the transistor radios – pretty cutting edge back then! When I mentioned how much I use my iPod, a co-worker commented about how she just isn’t techie enough, and how the mp3 players are for young kids and folks who are running on the treadmill at the gym. I lent her my iPod for a couple of lunch hours, and she is now hooked.
Lessons learned? I will continue growing and learning and feeding my brain cells with the nutrients of words and knowledge. Multi-tasking is perfectly suited to this goal. And I still have 1,200 hours in my time bank – what a wonderful gift, this gift of time!
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Thanks, Pat, for helping us get in touch with what time really means for us.
As we get older, time becomes more valuable, and a very special gift. I agree with you, but it also has become to me, a time for reflection, and planning becomes less and less important to me. I spend more time with the Lord, time well spent considering that I plan to spend the rest of eternity with Him.
I begin my day praying the Liturgy of the Hours, and praying for my family. Breakfast is quick, and after a shower and jumping into my clothes, I'm off for daily Mass, then join the daily Rosary group for about 40 minutes of Rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy. I check on the flowers, as I've volunteered to care for them, as well as the ten plants at the Shrine of St. Bernadette. Two days a week I attend a meditation class, and a small faith-sharing group.
Since the New Year began, I've been goint to the YMCA for the Silver Sneaker exercise program. That leaves me the rest of the day to make meals, clean up after myself, and spring cleaning which I begin in January. Evening prayer, a twenty minute period of silent prayer and required reading for my secular Carmelite formation pretty much takes the rest of the day.
I spend at least one hour reading and writing e-mails, and at least four to five hours a week on the telephone with my kids. I love visiting the two families, and playing games with the grandkids. I visit them at least once a week. Now that leaves the weekend. I attend Saturday and Sunday Masses, a Catechism Class every Sunday afternoon, and on Thursday I attend Civitan meetings, or visit other Clubs.
So that's what retirement is like for me. I love yardwork, and still do my own raking, watering, and mowing. I hope to make the most of the time that the Lord has given me, serving Him, and preparing to see Him. My goal is to daily embrace fully the demands and rewards of living the way of life in which we discern the will of God, growing in humility, detachment and charity.
I'm glad you began the blogging again. Thanks, and have a happy New Year! Your Sis, Mary Ann
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