This is an article from Mormon Times.
Author: Becky Thomas
Source: For Mormon Times
One of the hardest lessons I have had to learn in life is to make time my friend. Being single and watching the window of marriage opportunities and child bearing open and close can be very difficult. I have wanted to slow down the days, months and years. Without realizing it, time started to become my enemy; and no one wants to live with their enemy!
I have since realized that the concept of time is relative; circumstances, attitude and missed opportunity can dictate whether it is our friend or our enemy.
Recently I was speaking with a friend who had lost his sister suddenly in an accident. I was trying to sympathize and expressed how hard it must have been to not have been able to say goodbye; for a moment I believed that time had become his enemy. Then he quickly shared with me the fact that things were great between him and his sister, that he had no regrets. Their previous moments together were wonderful.
At that point it dawned on me that the wise use of his time while she was still alive enabled him to deal more peacefully with her loss; therefore, even in a moment of crisis, time did not become his enemy.
That was the key. By taking every moment of time we now have and using it wisely and lovingly, it can take away the sting that a loss of time later on, can bring.
I suppose that is why we are asked to prepare ourselves now for a disaster through food storage and emergency supplies, so that when we do not have the time to shop, or gather supplies, we will not be devastated with a lack of time to deal with survival.
Or why we are asked to take the time to show love and offer forgiveness daily to our family and friends, so that if and when we lose them, and do not have time to build relationships, we can feel peace and calm when they are gone.
There will be circumstances that will come in to our lives when we will lose control of our time, but nothing can take away the value of the time that we now have.
Recently I was sent this reminder from a friend, about the value of time:
“To realize the value of One Year, ask a student who failed a grade. To realize the value of One Month, ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby. To realize the value of One Week, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper. To realize the value of One Hour, ask the newlyweds who are waiting to meet. To realize the value of One Minute, ask a person who missed the train. To realize the value of One Second, ask a person who just avoided an accident. To realize the value of One Millisecond, ask the person who won a silver medal in the Olympics.”
Time is valuable. We each have 86,400 seconds in a day. We all have the same amount of time. How we choose to spend it will determine our destiny, future opportunities, feelings and possible regrets.
Whether we are waiting for marriage or for a divorce to be finalized, someone to return from a mission or return to the gospel, for test results or a heart to be healed (regardless the circumstances), the better use of our time now determines if time will be our friend or our enemy in the future.
I am learning that living the gospel protects us from time becoming our enemy. If we live and understand the gospel plan, time will always be our friend.
If we use our time to bicker, hold grudges, criticize, focus on regrets, wallow in self-pity, get lax in our worship, rebel, etc. we will not only have wasted our time, but eventually time will become our enemy. I believe that we will long for that time once again.
However, if we use our time wisely by following the words of a living prophet, patterning our lives after the Savior and going to those places, and doing those things where the Spirit of the Lord is, then when circumstances or crisis try to threaten the quantity of time we wish to enjoy, we can be comforted by the choices we made that increased the quality of our time.
Depending upon the choices we make now, time can always be our friend!
(Red highlights are my emphasis. Robin)
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