Thursday, March 31, 2011

A Time for Everything

"We live and we die by time. And we must not commit the sin of losing track of time." -Chuck Noland, Cast Away (2000)

Life is all about timing.

What we do, who we meet, the decisions we make, the opportunities we have depend on a series of coinciding events and, I believe, the divinely guided passage of time. The seconds tick by, the day passes, and in a succession of hours we have done, or not done, many things.

Today was our first real day of spring. After weeks of blustering wind, sheets of rain, and stormy skies, the 80-degree sunshine was delicious. As I walked to and from classes today, I couldn't help but marvel at the tiny leaves beginning to sprout on the branches' ends. A soft, warm breeze rippled across the uncut grass and tickled my sandaled toes. I wanted to just stop to sit in the grass and admire this sunny day, but classes are not canceled due to organic beauty.

There is another major chem and calc test next Tuesday, so my weekend is a flurry of study groups and practice tests. I'm trying not to stress out or panic when I think about how much depends on these upcoming tests. However, I've found it's easy to surrender yourself to your work, devote every waking moment to it, and still not reap impressive results. My professors have urged me to stop, take a break even if it's just for an hour, learn to put aside the homework and go to bed at a decent time, or simply pause to eat lunch, and I'm beginning to realize the truth in their advice. The past few months, I've felt if I stop for even a moment, if I'm not constantly working on something, tackling homework, reading ahead, memorizing charts....I'll fall irrevocably behind. I've just been go, go, go. And yet, this strategy hasn't worked very well for me. I'm just exhausted, not necessarily that much smarter. And so, when my chem professor let us leave early after lab today, I didn't go to the library to study again. No, I drove home, made myself a sandwich and sat in the beautiful, deliciously warm sun.

And just breathed. Yes, life is all about the timing.

"You must have been warned against letting the golden hours slip by. Yes, but some of them are golden only because we let them slip." - J.M. Barrie

3 comments:

interfaithproctor said...

Hmm, reminds me of this last Sunday.
A pastor from Flordia told me this Sunday, 'We Americans think we need to be busy, productive, we've become immune to not being busy.'
This is so true of our wonderful culture. Productivity and speed.
But if you just stepped down to my world, south of the border- you'd find we go about waiting for all kinds of things. Lines at the bank, goverment offices, cash registers, everything! But the hurry that you feel we normally don't feel here...people are used to waiting. There in the States we're not.
Point? Ah, yes the point! When you wait, it gives you time to contemplate to breath, to refresh.
Take advantage the next time you have to wait to spot and as you've done, clear your mind, take a deep breath and smell the roses.
God Bless your efforts.
Nicco

interfaithproctor said...

Hmm, reminds me of this last Sunday.
A pastor from Flordia told me this Sunday, 'We Americans think we need to be busy, productive, we've become immune to not being busy.'
This is so true of our wonderful culture. Productivity and speed.
But if you just stepped down to my world, south of the border- you'd find we go about waiting for all kinds of things. Lines at the bank, goverment offices, cash registers, everything! But the hurry that you feel we normally don't feel here...people are used to waiting. There in the States we're not.
Point? Ah, yes the point! When you wait, it gives you time to contemplate to breath, to refresh.
Take advantage the next time you have to wait to spot and as you've done, clear your mind, take a deep breath and smell the roses.
God Bless your efforts.
Nicco

Jem Turla said...

Life is a beautiful gift from the Lord and I strongly believe that we should continue to enjoy and seize every single day He is giving us. :)

Btw, I love your photo Riza and I miss you! :) Hope is all well with you. God bless you my friend! :)