The Write Conversation: Time is a Gift

When this post goes live, it will be my birthday. Again. Seems like it comes around every year.

However, this is one that gets your attention. 60. The big six oh. (You thought I looked older than that? Thanks.)

How did it happen so quickly? I’m minding my own business, then, all of a sudden, I’m getting letters from AARP.

When I was just a babe, in my twenties or so, sixty was so old. The sexagenarian wasn’t old enough to retire, I heard, but they were too old to play backyard basketball.

Now that I’m nearly sixty, I watch my 87-year-old mom plan to have lunch with her 91-year-old friend. Age has taken on a different perspective.

Birthdays are times when we tend to look over our lives, both what we have done and what we hope to still do. When we do, we realize how fragile and valuable life, and time, is.

Considering time is very revealing to anyone who is a writer.

Writing is such a personal thing. Some of us write because we have a story or message we want to share. Some of us write for our families, or to better understand our selves and the world around us. Whether we hope to write to be published, or we write for just ourselves, writing is something we feel driven to do.

The longer I write, the more I realize what an incredible gift it is. (Or curse, considering how it the writing is going.) The ability to describe something in a new way giving it a fresh spin, or to reveal something that others haven’t thought of, is a special treasure. One of those wow moments.

As I look forward to putting out the candles on my cake with a fire hose, I appreciate the value of time a little more.

What Makes Time Valuable

God thinks you are valuable and made you for a specific purpose

God has created each of us with unique skills, talents, and personalities. Only you can accomplish the tasks that your Creator fashioned you for. In other words, you are not an off-the-rack human, you are a finely crafted individual. Crafted by the Master who had all the knowledge, supplies, and tools at His disposal.

You weren’t a rushed job. God has utilized your whole life polishing and refining you to make you who you are, who He designed you to be.

Even if you think you are rubbish, and most of us have those days, and you think He made an obvious mistake, that is not who He is or what He does. He doesn’t make rubbish. He makes treasures. One of whom is you.

Time is a gift that you choose how to use

We are bombarded by so many demands on our time. Jobs, hobbies, families, doctor visits, broken water heaters, social media notifications. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by all the noise, all the busyness, all the choices.

We all have been given a certain allotment of time. And none of us know how much that is. If you have a dream, something you really feel you should do, have you started? Have you worked out a plan?

You have the ability to make a difference to someone, to your group, to the world. You have the chance the grow, to learn, no matter how old or young you are. Until we enter Heaven, God isn’t finished with you here on Earth, or the moon, or on Mars.

Who do you think gave you that desire?

Time is a treasure that shouldn’t be wasted

Time continues to unwind no matter what we choose. We can let the busy river carry us wherever it flows, we can stay on the bank and watch it pass by, or we can make our boat and pilot it to a chosen spot. We control the choice we take.

The time that is left is a blank slate. God has a plan for you He wants to see you fulfill. Are you taking the steps to walk with Him? Are you using your treasure?

So, as I look at celebrating my birthday during Covid, I meditate on this gift and treasure I’ve been given. I have a lot of dreams and goals still to do. It would be easy to say I’m too busy as it is, or that I’m too old and don’t have enough time.

But the question to all of us, at whatever our age, is what will we do with the remaining time, the valuable time, God has given us? How can we not only keep living until he calls us home, but to live a more valuable life?

Isn’t that the birthday gift we all give to God?

TWEETABLE

Time is a Gift - encouragement for writers from @TimSuddeth on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Tim Suddeth is a stay-at-home dad and butler for his wonderful, adult son with autism. He has written numerous blogs posts, short stories, and three novels waiting for publication. He is a frequent attendee at writers’ conferences, including the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference and a member of Word Weavers and ACFW. He lives near Greenville, SC where he shares a house with a bossy Shorky and three too-curious Persians. You can find him on Facebook, Twitter, or at timingreenville.com.