What is the value of now? Now, as compared to an hour from now, tomorrow, next week or next year. I know many people (I used to be one of them) that looked toward the destination as the chosen point to be happy. Not the journey, the destination. You know the ones, wait till we get married, then we will be happy. Wait till we have children, then we will be happy. Wait till the children are potty trained, then we will really be happy. Wait till the children can dress themselves and we sleep the whole night, then we will be happy. Wait till the children graduate from high school or college or get married or have grandchildren, then we will be happy. Wait till I get that job, move into that house, make that sale, get that raise, marry that person, have enough money in the bank, retire and etc etc etc.
What happens in these simple choices is that we wait to be happy until a planned event or timeline. We hurry through the whole journey to get to the destination because we believe it is the destination that will make us happy. Does this sound like anyone you know? It sounds like me at one point. When you are young and struggling with life and trying as best you can to find your place in the world, it is easy to fall into this temptation and miss many of life’s greatest joys.
I believe if you could sit with older people and ask them what they would change about their life if they could, you will hear these people tell you to be in the moments. They would tell you to be where you are not where you want to go. There are some things in life that you can learn without having to experience it, if you will really listen. This is one of those lessons. I don’t know of one dying man that would say “I wished that I had spent more time at the office or I wished I had bought that fancier car or moved into that bigger house.” No, they would tell you that they wished they had been present more times with their children and watched their son play baseball or their daughter do ballet. They would probably tell you that they would give all their money to have a chance to do it over and to make the main things the main things.
Look at your life today and ask yourself, what is really important and what will mean the most to you when you get older. I believe those are things we should make time for today and not just another sales call or business meeting or church social. To my knowledge the most valuable things in life are not the things that cost money. In fact they are not things at all, they are the people you love and the moments you spend being there and looking them in eye and telling them how much you love them.
The next time someone asks you what time it is, tell them it is now. KT