Time… It is an exhaustible resource that is immune to anti-ageing treatment. We save it, spend it, invest it, try to reverse it (especially its evidence in aging, wrinkles and old exteriors). We really treat it like we treat our lives. And this I guess is because it really is the currency of life. Most of us want to save it: time-saving devices, technology, multi-tasking to get more done in a minute… And yet, it still beats on, without prejudice or bias. Time is the great leveller of all creation, great and small.
For women, time is a funny thing. Perhaps its all the roles we carry; all the things we feel we must do. The things we don’t seem able to do. The signs of it beating on when we look in the mirror or get our grey coloured, our wrinkled ironed out… We seem to feel it profoundly, and base so much of our identity and value on how “time-light” or “time-heavy” we look. Some of us even stop celebrating our time anniversaries (birthdays) at a certain point, in fear of aging.
The reality: Time would pass by even if you and I did nothing… if we simply sat and watched the skies change from sunrise to sunset. Often, I feel like it’s a horrible reality that I must find a way to beat. And yet, no matter what I do, time moves inexorably, humbling my attempts and reminding me of my humanity. For the last few years, especially as I’ve lived in other cultures and societies, I’ve been struck with the realisation that everyone – king, pauper, prisoner, free citizen, woman, man, young and old has exactly the same amount of time in each day. None of us know how many years we will have, so we don’t get to dole out our time or ferret it away like guaranteed credits. How we use our time is personal choice for us all. As I look around us, I see how our time-choices shape our lives. One minute determines the next. Past, present and future are all woven together in a seamless experience, a series of choices, conscious and unconscious.
“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time,” Ephesians 5:15-16.