There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven.
Ecclesiastes 3:1
We’ve got a clock in nearly every room in our home. The one I like the best projects time on the ceiling at night so I don’t have to prop up on one elbow and look over Barb to figure out what time it is. We’re guessing you do, too. Oh, and then we can look to our wrists or our phones to measure time, too.
Time seems to rule our days – and our nights!
The first mechanical clock, made by a blacksmith somewhere in Italy, was an alarm clock for a monk who had to wake his fellow monks in a monastery to start the day’s worship sequence. From this sprang the monster tower clocks, which appeared all over Europe after about 1200. We’ve all been consumed by time ever since.
But in this first month of the new year, we want to suggest you begin using a different devise for measuring time in your marriage.
We want you to consider measuring your time in terms of its value.
In other words, how valuable is the time you spend together? After all, each of us places a different value on the increments of time, as the following reveals:
To know the value of one year … ask the student who failed the final exam.
To know the value of one month … ask the mother of a premature baby.
To know the value of one week … ask the editor of a weekly newsmagazine.
To know the value of one day … ask the wage earner who has six children.
To know the value of one hour … ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.
To know the value of one minute … ask the person who missed the plane.
To know the value of one second … ask the person who survived the accident.
To know the value of one millisecond … ask the Olympic silver medalist.
When you begin to measure time in terms of its value, rather than how many minutes or hours have passed, it helps you put it into perspective.
I learned to tell time and now I’m always late.
–Lilly Tomlin
Rather than thinking about where you can carve out an hour together in your schedules, you can begin to think in terms of what you’d like that hour to accomplish for you. Maybe what you really want is a time to share a good laugh, or a time to be known, or a time to solve a particular problem.
And any one of these may take more or less than an hour.
You get the point. Rather than measuring time in increments, try measuring your time in terms of its purpose and you’ll be amazed to find you have more time than you thought.
Reflect and Respond
What’s the sign of time well spent with your spouse?
Sitting across the table from The Gorgeous Redhead and focusing only on her when we sit down to eat.
Holding hands when we pray at church.
Taking a road trip and listening to a book on tape
Taking turns planning wedding anniversary surprises for each other
Sitting on the front porch in our rockers and visiting with neighbors
There’s lots more. How about you?
Make time for each other…on purpose.
