When I first moved to Big Sandy, my daughter (who was one at the time) and I started visiting a resident at the nursing home. She loved having my little girl visit, and we both enjoyed our conversations. During my time visiting with her, I learned a very important truth. That truth was that we only have as many days as we have. That seems sort of obvious, but it is easy to live life as though we are going to live forever and have all the time in the world to do everything we want to do. The problem of course is that this is an illusion. My friend in the home was surrounded by pictures of kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, and friends. Talking to people around town, I know she had spent her life invested in the things she loved and cared deeply about. In the end, she didn’t have forever, but she didn’t waste the time she had. This idea made me reassess how I see priorities. Time is the one thing we have in finite supply, and even if we can do things to live a little longer, it’ll still run out eventually. Now, before I go further, I want to be clear that I am not suggesting that we should live out some “you only live once so you should indulge in hedonism” nonsense. In truth, people who live that way often wind up at the end of their days with no one or nothing to show for their work. There are people who earn tons of money and prestige and end their lives alone and with nothing to show for it. What I realized is that the time we use to do meaningful and important things is what really matters in life. Based on my time with my nursing home friend, I came to believe that having and spending time with family was inherently valuable. You can impact the world far beyond your own lifespan by raising good, righteous kids. In addition, you can be proud of them and enjoy the amazing gift that is a well seasoned relationship. That treasure isn’t instant. It doesn’t happen between games on your cell phone or during your annual vacation. It grows a bit every day over dinner around the table, worshipping God together in church, and in time spent playing/talking/living together. It cannot be ignored and turn out great. You can extend the same concept into those who live around you. You can invest in relationship or mentor a young person with your time and create greater legacies that just the things that end up sold at your estate sale, donated to Goodwill, or tossed in the dumpster.
There are a ton of other examples of big, meaningful things we can do with our lives. I picked family because it is such an important example. In the end though, because we have as many days to live as God allots us, we can’t do everything. We can’t waste 3-4 hours a day watching TV or playing with our phones and also use that time with our kids. We can’t work 90 hours a week and read great books to grow spiritually. CS Lewis once wrote about a character in King Lear, who doesn’t have a name. He is on stage for only a few minutes, has 7 lines, and dies. What he said was that the character has no idea what the bigger story is. He doesn’t know the start or end of the play. All he knows is the few moments he has. It would be foolish for him to focus on things that have nothing to do with his part or waste the time he has to perform. All he can do is concentrate on playing the part that Shakespeare wrote for him the best he possibly can. He must remember his lines, deliver them with passion, and perform to his full potential. That is all he can do. You and I are no different. We don’t know where things began or will end. We only have the part God wrote for us. We must play it out to the best of our ability. We must focus on things that matter and do the best we can playing our part before we leave the stage.
