When was the last time you laid your head on the pillow at night feeling like you made perfect use of your time that day? You accomplished everything you needed to do at work, finished all the necessary household chores, enjoyed quality time with family and friends, spent meaningful time with God, and checked everything off your to-do list? This was a question posed to me by a speaker at a conference this weekend. He was challenging us to understand our limits and consider wise use of our time.

Ironically, at that very moment I was stressing about the upcoming week, wondering if I would have enough time to fit everything in!

Time is a mysterious thing. It’s something we’re all given – 24 hours every day – and something we must decide how to use. St. Augustine, in considering the essence of time, came to the conclusion that the past and the future do not truly exist, only the present. He believed that the past is simply memory, living only in the mind. The future is simply expectation as we imagine and anticipate it. The present is attention, what we experience in the moment; it is what holds meaning.*

God, however, exists in a completely different reality. He says, “I AM who I AM.” (Exodus 3:14) God is the eternal present.

What does this mean for us as we navigate a world limited by the constructs of time? I have always appreciated the lyrics written by James Taylor: “The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.” It’s easy to get so caught up in worrying about what comes next that we forget to enjoy the here and now. 

Solomon, one of the wisest men to ever live, tells us, “So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.” (Ecc. 8:15)

We can’t live our lives trapped in past mistakes, and we can’t worry too much about the future with all its unpredictability. But we CAN take each present moment and enjoy it as a gift. Each moment is an opportunity to live life to the fullest and appreciate the time we have been given.

* catholicus.edu