What Are We Giving Time To?

It’s the beginning of a new week, and soon, a new month. Where did the time go? Weren’t we all swimming and grilling and taking vacations just a couple of weeks ago?

Now the kids are all well into the school year. In a few days, it will be Halloween. And incredibly, it’s only 58 days until Christmas.

Someone has said, “Life is not just the passing of time. Life is the collection of experiences and their intensity.”

Well put. Not just a collection of experiences but also their intensity. Those are the moments that give life substance, affirmation, depth. Those are the times we remember.

I attended a couple of birthday parties over the weekend. They were great times with family and friends I love. We shared food and drinks, laughter and fun, warm hugs and memories. There were children rolling in the grass, their tender faces bright with smiles, their small arms extended to receive squeezes and kisses.

There were adult reminiscences, catching up on what’s new with one another, and the easy flow of conversation and friendship.

Those are not just happy times, they are times filled with earnestness and devotion, luminous moments that remind us of the meaning of our journey here. Which is all about human connections, sharing, and love.

The Indian mystic and poet Rabindranath Tagore wrote that we should not give time to querulous people who will take time from us so that in the end we leave "Time’s altar empty of all offerings that last.”

These are days filled with this sort of time stealing. American society is locked in a battle against the abuse of time, a battle where time is wasted in petulant acrimony, endless arguing, and the failed attempts to express ourselves in ways that actually inspire and move others into more thoughtful thinking and acting.

The Buddhists tell the story of a young boy who asks an old man how old he is. The man says he is four years old. The boy is shocked and looking at him he says, “But your hair is so white, and you carry a cane. How can you be only four?” The old man smiled and said, “In the past, I lived a wasteful life. I was selfish and preoccupied. I was bitter and unhappy. Four years ago, I gained new insights into myself and into life. I learned to do good and be helpful. I decided to rid myself of greed, hatred, and ignorance. I knew I possessed a better nature and I wanted to live by it. Four years ago, I discovered value, meaning, and fulfillment by choosing to do better. That is why I am only four years old.”

We never get too old to discover how precious our existence can be. We never get too old to decide to fill it with a collection of experiences and intensity that give time such quality and purpose that our life journey will leave footprints and laughter and affection in the dreams of all we love.

If I had five minutes to evacuate--what would I take with me?

If I was told there was a bomb in my building and I had five minutes to evacuate my apartment I’d grab a grocery bag and quickly toss these items into it: 1. A photo of my grandparents, Mom and Pop and me, when I was 15 years old. I learned what love is made of from them. I learned what it is to be kissed on and hugged in arms so tender they felt like God’s arms. I discovered self worth from those two angels in human flesh. Of all the people in my life, they were the ones who made me feel I counted. Honestly, whatever capacity I have to love others came from them. 2. A sentimental, dog-eared, stars in the margin copy of Pat Conroy’s, “The Prince of Tides.” It is a book I have read three times and often return to for its wisdom. It is a harsh, profoundly tragic novel, the story of a family so broken and tortured by such flawed and wounded people that it is sometimes difficult to turn the next page. And yet it is the story of such Herculean courage and endurance that you want...

I Saw the Delicacy of Life

I was flying Across the deep And I saw the delicacy Of life Wrinkles on the faces Of the old So pure they glistened Like awards The joy of children Running with abandon Their laughter ringing Like chimes in the wind I saw the soft moving waves Across the sea And the trees releasing Their rainbow leaves Birds joined me on my flight And I saw the surface of their wings Adorned with patterns Glorious and unfurled I saw the tears of the sad And the smiles of the glad The suffering in mourning And the celebration of birth As I descended toward the ground Slowly, slowly, softly I saw the gentle grass of the field And smelled the fresh earth It was a perfect landing © 2018 Timothy Moody

A Losing Strategy

OPINION PAGE (c) 2024 Timothy Moody The Republican strategy to mock and judge others has passed into some form of insatiable, all-devouring nastiness. It is so poisonous and contemptuous that it is now just evil. Republican Governor of Arkansas, Sara Huckabee Sanders, suggested to a crowd of Trump supporters Tuesday night that Kamala Harris can't be humble because she doesn't have any children of her own. When will Americans decide they don't want government leaders who are so arrogantly insensitive, as Sanders was, that they offend everyone? This crude, villainous rhetoric transcends political partisanship. It’s evil, dangerous, and insulting. The poet Ezra Pound’s brief lines are appropriate here, “Pull down your vanity, How mean your hates” To suggest that someone cannot be humble because they don't have children is not just a cheap political comment. It's an attack on a person’s humanity and worth. And that is now, and has been fo...

The Unclad Soul

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