As you look at the new year look at it as a block of time. You see 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days, 8,760 hours, 525,600 minutes, 31,536,000 seconds.
All is a gift from God.
You have done nothing to deserve it, earn it, or purchase it. Like the air you breathe, time came to you as a part of life.
The gift of time is not yours alone. It is given equally to each person. Rich and poor, educated and ignorant, strong and weak—every man, woman and child has the same twenty-four hours every day.
Another important thing about time is that you cannot stop it. There is no way to slow it down, turn it off, or adjust it. Time marches on.
You cannot bring back time. Once it’s gone – it is gone forever. Yesterday is lost, and since yesterday is lost, tomorrow is uncertain. Though you look ahead at a full year’s block of time, you have no guarantee that you will experience it.
Time is your most precious possession. You can waste it. You can worry over it. You can spend it selfishly all on yourself. Or, as a person of faith, you can invest it in the people and resources of the world around you.
The new year is full of time. As the seconds tick away, will you be carelessly using the time you have, or will you strive to make every minute count?
By Steven B. Cloud (adapted)
