Life moves by at the speed of light and I have played the role of the busy martyr way too often.
In owning my own business it means the to-do list never ends. Add in being a husband, father, son, and friend and I often feel stretched and guilty. Dropping the ball in one sense or another, I find myself apologizing for forgetting, being tardy, or having a wandering mind. I feel like I am robbing Peter to pay Paul with my day, thus someone is always getting the short-end of the stick.
Hurried and rushed, I have lacked the truth about time. That time is not money, but life and I am not fully living. That time should be cherished and savored. That we should live fully in the present, fully intentional, and fully alive.
Stop wasting it
We spend a lot of our lives waiting for the future, fretting about what may be or waiting for happiness.
We waste time by fixating on the future and ignoring what is right in front of us, ignoring this very second because tomorrow we are going to start living.
Trying to make a life, we never have a life.
What foolishness, for tomorrow may never come. Both good and bad we may never see what we are fixated and enamored by. We are merely wasting what has been entrusted to us. We are called to steward our time to the best of our abilities.
Keep living it
Intentionality means fully living. We are called to live abundantly and overflowing. Not wasting it and not devaluing what we have been given. Full intentionality for me means start with God and do what He would have me do for the day. When God is silent, it means doing what I know He would want me to do according to His Word. It means loving my wife like He loves me. It means being the father I should be. It means to move in the direction of our dreams and to lead with excellence while living an uncommon life.
Start enjoying it
Drawing in every breathtaking in every moment, being fully and authentically present. Enjoying the moment. Why does this feel so strange to us? Why does a wandering mind and dissatisfaction feel so normal? The only way to enjoy this life is to be present.
To live in the now is an acquired skill that I am praying for. As I attempt this feat I realize how far I have to go.
At work I think about home and at home I think about work. That is not enjoyment and those around me know they are not getting all of me. I am short-changing those I love the most.
No more.
We must take a stand.
We must try and try again for the stakes are so high and we never get another chance. For this very moment will never happen again.
We need to treat this very second with the awe that it deserves. Move in the direction that God is calling, for tomorrow may never come.
Do not stand still and waste today, but enjoy the journey and you will be blessed.
Are you living?
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Photo: Unsplash
This essay originally appeared on Zech Newman’s blog.
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