Valuable Time

Time passes.  It does not come back.

Today's seconds are passing-in-review, almost as if in a military parade. They march precisely and refuse to stop.  Each owns it special moment, the here-and-now.  I will not see any of these again.

Which means they should count.

What does it mean to make time count?  Should I focus on being happy? Productive?  Fulfilled?  Despite cultural bias, I think it is really not so much about me, but something else.

In recent months I've been shown anew what it means to add value to the lives of others as time continues to progress.  In every sense, time belongs to God.  That is what makes it so incredibly valuable, and what inspires me to hold what is most profitable front-and-center, right now.

"Compel yourselves: say the prayer, stop idle talk, close your mouths to criticism, place doors and locks against unnecessary words. Time passes and does not come back, and woe to us if time goes by without spiritual profit."

- Elder Ephriam of Philotheou (a monk on Mt. Athos in Greece) - born 1927