Time is a THIEF!

Like the title says, Time is a thief.  He steals the potency of our medications, the efficacy of our wrinkle creams, but worst of all, he steals our lives.  Not that I believe that Time is the reason we, as humans, or even the rest of creation dies.  What he does is something far more subtle. 


He gives us things to do.  That is his first best line of offense.  He gets us busy, and we pass up all the good things in life.  And to top it off, he has quite a few cohorts he has employed in his effort to waste our lives. Technology being top on the list, so far.  Technology now has new and even more subtle tactics to steal from us.  Such as virtual farming, virtual treasure hunting, talking with people you never will meet, and meeting people you never should have, but only online.  Then there is the ever-vicious cohort named Random Duty.  He has plans to steal your time by making you mop that floor just one more time, and keeping you awake at night thinking about that spot on the ceiling that you couldn't remove after hours of scrubbing.  He packs other weapons too.  I am convinced that he is the one who makes sure EVERYONE goes to the store at the same time, and has to wait in a long line just to get the commodities needed for daily living.  (He may be the one who actually prints those darned coupons.) Work is another one of Time's chief petty officers.  He has life long plans for you, to spend behind a desk, or whatever it is you do, that will keep you occupied with hours of travel just to get to the place he assigned you to, and mindless tasks to keep you there for a full 8 hour day.  Not that Work is a particularly bad fellow, but he seems to replace all the important things in life.  I am convinced, after much long thought, that there are things I will not be wishing I had missed doing when it is my time to leave planet Earth.


For one, I am sure I will not be saying to myself, "Just one more case, Lord, I need to finish just one more case!"  I also am sure I will not be begging time to shampoo my carpets or do laundry.  Most assuredly, I will NOT be asking for more time, because my virtual farm has to be harvested, or I need to collect my daily "reward" from Treasure Isle.


I think one of the things high on my list would be spending time with my adoring grandchildren before they get lives of their own and find their own work, computer gadgets and plant virtual crops.  By SPENDING time, I mean, telling them stories, taking walks with them, doing things together that they will never forget. 
I also want to spend more time with my friends and family, laughing with them, consoling them in their grief, supporting them in their lives, sharing my life with them, and theirs with mine.  I want to see more sunsets, and capture them not only in art, but in my heart.  I want to smell flowers, see trees blossom, watch puppies come into the world.  I want to wake up those around me who are asleep to all the wonders of the world God has created.


But most of all,  I want to tell everyone I know that I love them, and then back it up with actions. That takes time.  Yes, Time has set up all of his powers to attempt to steal that from me, also. Because he knows that Love is the most important thing of all, and, as I said before, loving people takes time.  It takes time to form lasting relationships, to show care for someone.  Love is not an instant thing, or else Time would have it on the shelf at Walmart, so we could buy it and be done with it.  Then he would attempt to steal the reward of that too.


When I die, I do not want people walking by my shell and saying "Well there was a real nut."  I want them to maybe say nothing, but know that they were loved.  I want them to feel that always, and know deep inside someone with skin on truly loved them, and that because of that, they came to know what love was about, and who Love really is.


In short, I don't want Time to steal my opportunities in life to show everyone I meet the love of God.  Someone once took that time for me, and it has made all the difference in my life.