Is it All About Time?

            Time.  On the one hand, it is the selfish pursuer, always tracking its prey, waiting in the wings for a moment of stillness.  And quite the opposite, time can be the literal Balm of Gilead for a broken soul.  Time is a paradox; the greatest of masterpieces can be created with time, and the most atrocious tragedies happen by the minute and second hand of time.  We are all slaves to it, and it waits patiently to beckon us when we least want it to.

           Often it is lamented that time passes too quickly.  What about the mother that loses an infant to death, or a child that suddenly becomes motherless or fatherless?  Time to them is something fleeting, something they wish they could rewind and live again, but differently and with precious pause for each last second. 

Time laughs in the face of control as it cunningly slips through the death grip of those that try to constrain it.  It cannot be stopped, nor can it be slowed.  It can, however, be intensified and relished.  Though we have no concept of when time will run out for us, we can emulsify ourselves in the time we do have, trying to wring each and every moment of minutia we possibly can before surrendering to the great Father Time. 

        Rather than worry and anguish for time that is lost or wasted, try instead to anticipate the quickening of time and walk out confidently to meet it as two enemies about to duel on an empty, dusty road.  Know it will control you if you do not maximize it.  So decide to be the one to mock Father Time by paying attention to each passing moment, to every encounter, to the people you love most, to the things in life that are valuable.   Be patient.  Learn to wait.  Time is all we have, and yet it is what we lack most.