Prose

The Purpose of Time

Is there ever enough?

I am beginning to see time as a good thing. I am learning to work with it and not against it. I have spent much of my life working against it. Like many others, I am struck with the constant sensation that time is running out. It’s always ahead and never behind. It never seems to be walking beside me. It always seems to be a few steps ahead. Sometimes it feels miles ahead — always at some point in the future. Always having me think about then and not now.

I wish I was more present — more content with the moment, but that’s not easy. It’s a struggle and I know I am not alone in this. The whole world groans about not having enough time. Time to do what, I wonder? What is it we are so eager to accomplish? And if we did complete that ambiguous thing, would we even know it?

I have so many ideas that I want to pursue, projects that I want to complete, places I want to visit. Even writing seems like a pursuit. What am I pursuing though? More recognition? More stories, more pages, more words on a screen? Then what will I work towards? And will that feeling be enough? (I’m confident that it won’t be. I’ve heard from those on the other side and they don’t seem to be content.) Meanwhile, so much else hangs in the balance. The responsibilities, the “duties” of everyday life; the housekeeping, the children, the self-care, the planning, the preparation, the job. It all seems to have no end. This is what makes pursuing some sort of end seem pointless. There really is no end. There is always something to do. So how will I let time work for me and not against me? How will I let it serve me?

Time is a servant.

I’m realizing that time itself is a created thing. It was created for a purpose. There is an appointed time for this, and an appointed time for that. There is order. Humans did not create order — order existed long before clocks and calendars and task management systems. Order exists in nature. It is all around us. It is in the planting of a seed. The turning of the leaves. The melting of snow and the returning of spring. It is in the rising of the sun and the rotation of the earth and the revolutions of the planets and the coalescing of the stars.

In the beginning there was time, and God saw that it was good.

We live each day along a path that always starts now and always ends later. I believe this path exists so we can at least try. At least try to live and make each day count. It’s not a race. It’s a casual walk through the garden. Each passing petal reminds us that once there was a seed and now there is a tree; once there was a promise and now there is a product; once there was sadness and now there is joy; once there was loss and now there is gain. These changes signify progress and remind us that we are living.

Yes, that is the purpose of time. It is there to offer something, not take. And with each passing heartbeat it whispers, “You are here. You are moving. You are breathing. You are alive.” That is enough.

© Micah Josiah 2023