WE MISS IT WHEN WE EQUATE TIME TO MONEY
To some of you, this might come as a contradiction of my yesterdays’ article. However, it is not. This article is about what really matters in life.
I recently came across a poem that totally revamped my perspective towards time. It goes something like this:
“Who am I?
I haven’t always been and I won’t always be, but right now I’m on the move, measuring out life. People wait for me, submit to me, and fear me; but no one can stop me except God. Most people treat me as if I’m on the move forever, but I’m not. When God stops me, that will be it. Then it will be too late to forgive your brother, to apologize to your sister, to visit a sick friend, or help the needy. My name is TIME.”
They say, “Time is money.” I disagree! Equating time to money is a very narrow perspective.
Believe me, money is just a piece of paper or digits on a computer, and it is nowhere near the preciousness of time! I believe that the only thing that time can be equated to is life. Really, time is life! Just think about it. As I shared yesterday, time is the very stuff that makes up life. When your time on this planet is over, your life under the sun is over.
Many people who only see time as money often make the mistake of valuing money more than they value people. They spend their lives chasing after money and as a result miss out on things that matter most.
As they chase after money, they get it wrong with their children because they were never present in their lives.
They get it wrong with their employees because they never make time to care and value them as humans. They just saw them as equipments for getting job done!
They get it wrong with their drivers or watchmen because they never make time even to say “Hi.” And they get it wrong with their neighbors because they never make time to visit them. It is like George Carlin, in his speech entitled “The paradox of our time”, wrote: “We live in a generation where man has gone to the moon and back but has a problem crossing the street to meet a new neighbor.”
Today I challenge you to just slow down and make quality time for your children. Make quality time for your wife/husband. Make quality time for the people God has brought into your life. Make time to visit a neighbor. If you’ve never talked to your watchman who always opens the door for you, stop and just “Hi”. Get to know more about them.
Living a life of just chasing after money is a very narrow way to live our lives! There is something more to life than chasing after money.
Let me leave you with this… make sure you plant a smile on someone’s face today!
