There’s a saying in the Bible that says “Make the most of your time, for the days are evil.” I’ve been thinking about this verse a lot, lately.
When I think about time, I realize it’s one of the greatest gifts we have, and how we choose to spend the moments we have has a direct impact on the quality of our life. There are certainly situations that can derail our lives, such as an unfortunate car accident. However, the bulk of our lives is impacted entirely by our own free will and choice in the moments we have.
There are a lot of things happening in the world right now that are horrific. One in five children in America go hungry every day. 30% of children who get put through the CPS system are victims of sexual abuse. There are more genocides happening at this very moment than I can count – as well as a few things being labeled as a ‘genocide’ that couldn’t be further from it…
If you spent 15 minutes a day working out your abs, I assure you it wouldn’t be very long before you had a chiseled set of abs – given that your diet is in check. If you spent 15 minutes a day playing an instrument, it wouldn’t be very long before you were proficient enough to play in front of an audience. If you spent 15 minutes a day practicing a craft or skill set, it would be only a matter of time until you reached mastery.
In my life, I have things that demand my time and undivided attention. There’s nothing else you can do effectively while changing a dirty diaper, for example. Other things, such as my work, are able to be done largely by others which frees up a tremendous amount of my time each week, reducing my efforts to only being responsible for the things nobody else can do like I can – such as design, writing or consultation.
The entire world around us is connected by something very interesting; vibration. It’s the microstructure that shapes the world around us, and our vibrational frequency has a direct ability to shape the world around us, as well as the things that come along our path. Anger, for example, has a vibrational frequency of 150hz and results in contraction, constriction and collapse. Love, on the other hand, has a vibrational frequency of 528hz and is expansive, expanding and full of positive growth.
Said differently, if you water a seed with gasoline, it’s only a matter of time before the seed shrivels and becomes unable to produce something of substance. When you water and nurture a seed, it’s only a matter of time before it becomes something far greater than what it started as – capable of producing fruit, shade, usable materials and more.
Our time and emotions are a lot like this seed. I’ve found that when I water them with news reports of things that have absolutely no impact on my day-to-day life, the rest of my day feels tainted, angry and bitter. When I take that same amount of time and fill it with things that nourish my soul, my life feels far more expansive and I have an underlying sense of peace that money can’t buy.
You can’t buy peace – but you can sell it real cheap.
If you look at the world around you, it’s very hard to not feel some desire to change it. What a world it would be if everybody lived in peace, harmony and full acceptance of others. That desire is about as ambitious as trying to plug hover dam with your finger, however. In similar fashion, all of the anger and disgust at world events will have a difficult time making any sort of real change in the things that bother you.
What we do have control over is our environment. I think there’s something beautiful about recognizing the sphere of influence all of us have, and being mindful of how we craft that environment to touch the lives of those we encounter. In some ways, our sphere of influence can extend beyond our own knowledge or awareness.
For two years, I’ve set out a ‘love basket’ on the front steps of my townhome; filling it every day with bottles of water. On rare occasions, I meet and talk with people who appreciate the gesture. However, 99% of the bottles are taken without any knowledge of who drinks them. I simply see they are gone and it’s time to buy another case to replenish the basket.
There’s a lot that I’ve learned from this gesture. Sometimes, it’s the little things that make somebody’s day better, and those are like little seeds of love that get planted in the world like fluffy seeds blown from a dandelion. You never quite know where they’ll land.
This morning, I talked with a friend of mine about the journey of being a Dad. I shared that one of the breakthroughs I’ve had has been to recognize that care for myself results in my ability to be a better Dad. It’s a lot like filling a bucket with rocks and then pouring in another bucket of sand; it all fits.
Time and love operate a lot like this; when you are conscious of how you spend your time, and intentional about what proverbial rocks you want to put in your bucket, you suddenly get an expanse of space that lets you fill in the cracks with the bucket of sand.
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