Changing time; changing lives

We have to turn our clocks back an hour this weekend. That means we regain that extra hour we lost last spring. So, now that we have it back, what are we going to do with it?

Time is one of those commodities that has no accurate measurement in the grand scheme of things---unless we're baking a cake, of course. If the oven's working, we know that 45 minutes may be just right for all those soupy ingredients to meld and transform into a different texture.

When it comes to how much time to give to some of the important matters of life, however, there is no recipe book. And, how we spend the gift of an hour's time could make all the difference, or it could simply go "poof" with no clue that it ever existed.

This morning I received a foreward from one of my former students who reads this blog and who takes the time to comment occasionally. When I think of how much it means to me to hear from her, I know she has given me a few moments of her time well spent.

The foreward she sent was parable-like in that it told of a very busy man with little time for family and friends. He learned of the death of a neighbor and later received in the mail a little gold box with a gold watch and a note inside.

As a boy, he had spent hours with the older man, who shared what he thought were important things about life. In his youth, he had also often asked his older friend what was inside that box that sat on his desk, only to be told that it was what he valued most. The note inside the box read, "Thanks for your time." After reading the note, the man cut back his schedule to spend more time with his son.

As a teacher, I've been privy to similar stories that have really touched me. In one case, a student reminded me twenty years later of a time, lasting maybe five minutes, when he sat dejected and upset about a bad situation at home. I had walked up to him and spent those five minutes, trying to cheer him up and telling him that it would get better. When he told me how much it meant twenty years later, I was both touched and astounded.

So, we have that hour's gift to reclaim this weekend. How will we turn it into some of value and something that will transform---like the cake---someone or ourselves into a slightly different texture?