Time has a way of slipping away before you even know it!  Here I am a 50 year old grandmother of 3, and it seems as if that 50 years have been only a moment, the blink of an eye.  When we're young, time crawls as you can't wait for that next birthday.  Finally, you reach 21 and time begins to speed up at an alarming rate.  The older you get, the faster it goes.  Today it seems as if it doesn't stay long enough to finish a 24 hour day!  A month begins and moments later it passes and a new one begins.  A new year begins, you blink your eyes and it's half over already.  Unfortunately, this is something understood by those of us with a few years on us, but seldom understood by the young, with their entire life ahead of them.  By the time you become wise, it is often too late.

Yes, time is a fleeting commodity.  Knowing this, why do I still waste so many hours on things that just don't matter in the eternal perspective of things?  It must be a human condition because it seems I'm not the only one....

This month I had my third Mother's Day without a Mother.  If I had known how quickly she would be gone, would I have spent even more time with her over the years?  Would I have written down those stories and recipes I thought I'd never forget?  Would I have asked her for more stories and more bits of wisdom from her life?  Would I have hugged her more? Said I love you every single day?  Knowing all this, did it change how I interact with the rest of my family?

Ah, my intentions are good, but time passes, and I forget.  I get busy and the time slips away, leaving those words unsaid and those deeds undone...

It may seem my musings are dark today, but in reality, this is a reminder to myself to stop and smell those proverbial roses.  "This too shall pass" applies to everything.  Kids grow up, move away and have children of their own. Parents age and you become like the parent, they pass away and soon you are the aging parent. This cycle of life will happen no matter how we spend those precious moments we're given here on earth, so we might as well use them wisely.  I could spend my time worrying, but faith leaves me free to function.  I could spend my time working over-time, but work is not as important as relationships.  I could spend my time in any number of ways, but if I am wise, I will spend it seeking relationship:  with God, with my spouse, with my family, with friends.... 

Relationships matter so much more than the physical things of life or even being "right" all the time.  They even matter more than social mores and manners.  My husband talks to anyone at any time.  That once embarrassed me, but now I value his ability to strike up a conversation and make friends and contacts rather than letting fear or shoulds keep him from it.  Yes, I want to be more like him, but in the meantime, I'll hang on his coat-tails and get in on some of his people skills.  I will look around each moment and ask myself, "Is this important in the etenal scheme of things?"  I will let some things go.  I will seek out others.  I will attempt to live the next 50 years doing what's really important:  loving people and sharing myself with them as I seek to know them better.  Yes, that is the way of wisdom I choose.