Our time here needs to be redeemed. Far too often we give away and misuse valuable pockets of it and then wonder why we are anxious.
We live very organized lives. We spring in alarm, aided by our aptly named alarm clock, at the same time in the morning. We wash, brush our teeth, get dressed, have breakfast or pick it up somewhere along the way on the road. We long for that smell and taste of coffee to touch our life because that means we are back where we left things off yesterday.
And than we do the same thing over and over again. We answer emails, photocopy documents, hold meetings and of course get down to work. The best days of our lives. Let me repeat that. The best days of our lives and the best hours of the day are spent in turning out trinkets or doing things that in the long run prove most inefficient and ineffective.
How many people, and how many cars does it take each day to do things most people could accomplish better and faster from home. But that can’t be. We don’t trust ourselves and we don’t trust each other to get things done. But where is that entrepreneurial spirt gone? Why can’t that spirit exist and permeate everything and anything we do? Why should we not redeem the time we have on this earth? Why should we not do everything in our lives with purpose and gusto?
There is no reason for it, and yet, sadly, the majority of people waking up today and tomorrow will do the same thing, will repeat the same habits and long to see the weekend.
Time is not a thing. It is not a trivial matter. We have subjected it and carved it out into twenty four hour slices, and a three hundred and sixty five day main course. But there is spillage. Every four years we have to account for spillage. Leap year shows us that there is more time than we can neatly and easily carve out, so we can make stuff, use stuff, destroy stuff, get paid, and do it all over again.
We need to redeem time. It’s not going to be easy. There are not a lot of people willing or brave enough to do so but that doesn’t mean that you and I shouldn’t spend the rest of our lives trying.
There has to be a better way to spend a day. There is indeed a more meaningful way to engage this life with more purpose and meaning. It is possible. It is not a dream, and the irony that I have to report to work in about two hours is not lost on me. But the fact is that I’m sitting here in my car, working on my laptop, because the Starbucks which usually opens at five thirty has changed their hours of operation to six o’clock. I am redeeming time. I could sit here and wait. Throw my hands up in the air. Download some connect the dots game on my phone and complain about it later, but I cannot. The last few years have taught me that every moment counts, that everything we do truly matters and that we are free.
You are free and you have time. You have all the time you need. You and I know this because we are good at throwing so much of it away. It’s time to redeem some of that time. It’s time to make that time work for us. How many tomorrows are we going to have?
It is imperative to never again start the day with alarm and panic, but to redeem that day and live with purpose and meaning.
Cover photo generously provided by photographer Alexey Soucho https://unsplash.com/@souhoho
