Reflections for 1/5/10

"Am I daft, or is it true there's no such thing as hours past  and other hours still to pass, but all of them instead are all at once and never gone? Is there no time lost that ever was? Is there no time yet to come that's not here now?"(F. Buechner "Listening to Your Life" p.5)

Have you ever said or heard someone say well that's 30 minutes of my life I'm not getting back? We usually say this when we feel we've wasted time, usually attempting to entertain ourselves, or perhaps engaging in a pointless argument.

I think the point of the above quote is that there is no such thing as wasted time.  While things may have happened in the past, they don't stop being real. They may not have the same impact on us, but they are still a part of who we are.

The second part also to me indicates an idea that our future is always in our present. What we decide today, impacts tomorrow and will be a part of our past eventually.

The hours and minutes that become days, which become years, which become lifetimes are not separate strands but are in fact all part of the tapestry that we call our life.  It has events in the past, it has events in the present and will have more in the future. All of them connected and constantly creating the person we ultimately become.

Blessings,
Ed