How to spend our time

Your alarm clock churns its ugly sound. You dress up while the morning news tells you what happened in the world while you were sleeping. The smell of coffee greets you downstairs. You face the morning traffic. You spend at least an hour watching the bumpers of cars in front of you. You arrive at your work place and check your email. Your inbox says you have 125 unread emails. It takes hours to work through all, and when you get to the last one, a hundred more has made their way in.

Does this sound like your typical day?

We start every day knowing that we won’t be able to get everything done. Yet we still look back to the years that have passed and wonder why we haven’t accomplished what we have hoped to accomplish.

So why haven’t we accomplished what we have hoped to accomplish? It’s usually because we waste time.

Time is irretrievable. When you lose money, you can re-earn it. When you lose a friend, you can patch up the relationship. When you lose a job, you can find another one. When you lose energy, you can recharge. But once you lose time, you can never get it back.

This is the reason why I hate being late and I hate people who are constantly late for appointments. Being late is actually stealing other people’s time. Let me say that again: Being late is stealing time from someone else. Some people may not steal properties, but they readily steal other people’s time – which is actually more valuable.

There are people who think that they look cool and important when they arrive at an engagement “fashionably late”. I don’t know about you, but I sure won’t like a fashionable thief, no matter how much fashion he’s got.

Are we a fashionable thief? Are we doing senseless and stupid things that steal time from ourselves?

Having lost my father this year, I realized all the more how fleeting time is and how true Scriptures are. Scripture says that we live just a few years, and then like the grass of the field, we would be swept away by the wind.

How do you spend your time?

Some people spend it in the bars. Others jump from one bed to another. And I’ve met those who live and love their every moment doing business wanting to earn more and to become more powerful. Is this all there is to life?

No. Life is all about relationships. It’s all about loving God and loving others. It’s about enjoying what we do and enjoying the fruits of our labor.

Life is all about coming home and having the Ilocana smile at me and gently rub my shoulders, while she tells me how much she missed me that day.

It’s when the money I earn affords me to buy ice cream for my kids. They’re all grown up now, but I still see them as kids. And I still love the sound of them calling me, “Dad.”

So how do you spend your time?

The way you spend your time is the way you live your life. How are you living your life so far?

The Psalmist in the Scriptures said, “Lord, teach me to number my days that I may gain a heart of wisdom.”

I rest my case.

(Spend two whole days with Francis Kong developing your leadership skills this May 21-22 at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel. For further inquiries, contact Inspire Leadership Consultancy Inc. at 632-6872614 or 09178511115.)