HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU HAVE?

"How much time do you have? " Time is more precious than gold. You can live very well without gold. But, you cannot live at all without time. The first concept introduced in the Bible is time. The Bible states, "In the beginning, God..." Genesis 1:1. "The Beginning" is a concept of time. Time, in its "the beginning" concept, precedes God in the Bible's text. Before you--in particular--can concern yourself about God, you--in particular--must be here, must exist, must have a beginning: you, uniquely. In textual Biblical precedence, if not also in cosmological precedence, time--the beginning-- is either before God; or, the beginning, is of God! That is not to say that time is lesser or greater than God; they co-exist! They reinforce each other. "And God said let us make man." That "us" was time: outside of which, nothing exists. Anything that is with, or of, God is of great value. So, Time is of great value, being with or of God, or both. Nothing on Earth is more valuable than time. Nothing you possess is more valuable to you than your time. Yet, because you cannot appreciate the value of time, or of your own time, you waste it, give it away, sully it. In extreme cases, you self-terminate it! In order to appreciate the true value of time, an analogy of St. Augustine of Hippo, "The Father of Theology," would be useful and helpful to you. He said, as I update and paraphrase his meaning, "Let us assume that we each have 5 years to live. Since, we have all lived 5 years, already, we have a sense of its length. We also know that 5 years is not yet. We have only this year. But, this year is not over. So, we only have this month. But, the month is not over either. So, all we have is this week. But, this week is not over! All we have is this day. But, the day is not over! All we have is this hour! But, the hour is not over. All we have is this minute. But, this minute is not over! It has 60 seconds, in any one of which seconds, our time could end!" -- spoke the 5th century sage. Indeed, time is ending for someone, somewhere, even as I write this note. So how much time do you really have? You do not "have" -- own or possess--any "time" at all. Its allotment is gifted to you, to us, by time. Time "owns" us. We are time's tenants. Time has granted each of us some portion of its bounty for a time. So, while there is still time, and while you, in particular, still have time, make the highest and best use of your time, so that both time and God will be glorified by and through you, and through your time on this Earth. Amen. Photo: "How much time do you have? " Time is more precious than gold. You can live very well without gold. But, you cannot live at all without time. The first concept introduced in the Bible is time. The Bible states, "In the beginning, God..." Genesis 1:1. "The Beginning" is a concept of time. Time, in its "the beginning" concept, precedes God in the Bible's text. Before you--in particular--can concern yourself about God, you--in particular--must be here, must exist, must have a beginning: you, uniquely. In textual Biblical precedence, if not also in cosmological precedence, time--the beginning-- is either before God; or, the beginning, is of God! That is not to say that time is lesser or greater than God; they co-exist! They reinforce each other. "And God said let us make man." That "us" was time: outside of which, nothing exists. Anything that is with, or of, God is of great value. So, Time is of great value, being with or of God, or both. Nothing on Earth is more valuable than time. Nothing you possess is more valuable to you than your time. Yet, because you cannot appreciate the value of time, or of your own time, you waste it, give it away, sully it. In extreme cases, you self-terminate it! In order to appreciate the true value of time, an analogy of St. Augustine of Hippo, "The Father of Theology," would be useful and helpful to you. He said, as I update and paraphrase his meaning, "Let us assume that we each have 5 years to live. Since, we have all lived 5 years, already, we have a sense of its length. We also know that 5 years is not yet. We have only this year. But, this year is not over. So, we only have this month. But, the month is not over either. So, all we have is this week. But, this week is not over! All we have is this day. But, the day is not over! All we have is this hour! But, the hour is not over. All we have is this minute. But, this minute is not over! It has 60 seconds, in any one of which seconds, our time could end!" -- spoke the 5th century sage. Indeed, time is ending for someone, somewhere, even as I write this note. So how much time do you really have? You do not "have" -- own or possess--any "time" at all. Its allotment is gifted to you, to us, by time. Time "owns" us. We are time's tenants. Time has granted each of us some portion of its bounty for a time. So, while there is still time, and while you, in particular, still have time, make the highest and best use of your time, so that both time and God will be glorified by and through you, and through your time on this Earth. Amen.