Time is not your enemy, but it’s not your friend either.
Time has and serves a far deeper purpose. It leverages the fortunes of tomorrow against the necessities of today, and without this leverage, without this ultimatum, we would very likely fail to live up to our promise. We would give up on the promise to live meaningfully. Without the stubbornness of time we would most certainly ignore and postpone our human destiny.
Time forces us to act and question our destiny. You have no other choice but to act, but you can only act today. These are the hours that are given to you and you will one day account for them. You have to act now because you cannot act in the future, nor can you return and act again in the past.
Time is your accountability partner.
She gives you exactly what you need. Yes, there are times you have to steal time away from all the demands and pressures that have been heaped upon you, but she allows for that too. She offers you more and frees you of some of those pressures and responsibilities, but only after you’ve proven yourself worthy. You have to prove your worth first. You have to act and do something.
Time does not work against you. Quite the opposite. The passing of time offers you a world of possibilities. It is very comforting that everything must end. If it didn’t, there would be no reason to do anything at all. All the great authors would still be writing, all the great singers would still be singing, and the great gladiators would still be fighting. But they are all dead. They were great. They used their time well. They came, they saw, and they conquered. They made a difference. They embraced time and fulfilled their destiny, but they are gone. They are a shadow and a myth. They are a rumour of their former selves.
And that bodes well for us. Time shines her graces upon us, and gives us the opportunity to be someone, to create something, to embrace something. She gives us the ultimate opportunity to love and be loved.
This very moment is an opportunity to act, but sadly, many people will not cease that opportunity. They will be afraid of the future to come, or too crippled to move past the life that once was. I hope you are not one of those people, or at the very least, you begin today, to distance yourself from the pack and embrace the truth that you were born to be happy.
You were born to be great. You were born to fulfill your destiny. And you were not brought here to suffer and perish. You were brought here to fight and persevere. Everything you need to do what you want to do and be what you need to be is already here. Yes, you might not have it yet, but it is already here. Someone else might be a keeper of it. Someone else might be holding onto the money you don’t have yet. Someone else is dating the love of your life. Someone else is painting the kitchen of the house you will spend the rest of your days in.
Your happiness and everything you need to attain that happiness is abundantly present, that is not what holds us back. Our stubborn attack on time, and our refusal to do whatever it is we can do today, is what holds us back, and we need to remind ourselves of that often.
Time is not your enemy, nor is it our friend.
Time is just time.
Cover photo generously provided by photographer Curtis Macnewton via unsplash.com
