I've written about the concept of time multiple, err, times.
My current reflection on it stems from a recent experience I had with one of my children. Despite the many demands on my time, I intentionally made the choice to "waste" time by engaging in imaginative play. What started off as a chance to use a seldom chosen toy turned into a multi-hour and multi-prop session.
This recent experience replicated similar ones throughout my time as a father "wasting" time with my kids: coloring, playing, dancing, singing, building, cooking, imagining, snuggling, laughing.
The thing is, though, these moments are anything but wasted.
Think about the various ways that we describe how we use time:
- Waste time.
- Make time.
- Take time.
- Spend time.
- Invest time.
Time is fixed, finite, limited. So, it makes sense that we consider it much like a commodity or resource such as money or food or oil or wood.
And it is possible to do all of the above. I've definitely wasted too many hours, days, weeks, months and years throughout my life.
When it comes to the time that goes toward our relationships, though, perhaps we need another way to capture our intentions.
How about "cherish"?
Instead of saying that I was wasting time with my kids, might it be better thematized by saying I was cherishing time with my kids?
Now, I admit that I don't always feel like I'm cherishing this time. Like Bandit, the father in the show Bluey, I often lament when my kids suggest certain activities - like ones that require me to move a lot when I'm really tired.
But, despite any of my hesitations, I have never regretted cherishing time with them.
I pray that, despite my human limitations and failings, that they know of my deep and abiding love for them. In addition to saying it, I hope to tell my kids that I love them through my actions.
Ever since becoming a father, I have had many moments of prayer when I have reflected on the Father's love for me in relation to my love for my children.
Whether time spent in adoration, at weekday mass, in the confessional, in quiet prayer when I first wake up, or pausing to ask Him to bless my food before eating, I know that our Father cherishes time with me. His perfect love delights in my efforts to connect with Him. Much like how I appreciate when my kids just want to be close to me, I know that God rejoices in my efforts to be in His presence.
As the old hymn sings, "How deep the Father's love for us! How vast beyond all measure!"
Time, while it can be wasted or taken or spent, should be cherished. Instead of an exchanged commodity, we should view time as a gift.
In accepting it, I can then cherish it, and offer it back to God and my kids and my wife and my family and my friends and my co-workers and everyone as a gift.
Accept. Cherish. Offer.
Your time.
Your self.
