The Present You Can’t Wrap

Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. (Colossians 4:5)

I remember a family trip several years ago to Alice, North Dakota. Little Hannah, Jill, my brother, his wife, and I went to the family cemetery and then drove to the old family home. Our great-grandmother lived in a house with an elevator but no indoor plumbing. I remember my great-grandmother baking her bread, filling the substantial old home with that beautiful smell. When we returned, it was odd knowing some other family was living in the Bayley home.

Seeing another family in “our family’s home” was a reminder that nothing lasts forever. We do not possess anything; we just use it for a while, and then it breaks or becomes someone else’s. Thomas Oppong must have experienced a similar situation because he wrote an article entitled “Seneca: Nothing Is Ours, Except Time.” If we spend time gathering items to own, we will end up disappointed. The old phrase is accurate, “You can’t take it with you.” All the things we possess, from the fastest car to the best home to the most expensive hobby item, somebody will one day have them when we are gone. The one thing we own is the time we possess in each moment.

Oppong makes his point by quoting the Roman Stoic Seneca, “Nothing is ours, except time.” “What fools these mortals be! They allow the cheapest and most useless things, which can easily be replaced to be charged in the reckoning after they have acquired them. But they never regard themselves as in debt when they have received some of that precious commodity, time. And yet time is the one loan which even a grateful recipient cannot repay.” We must work, clean the house, and do other activities to keep food on the table and a roof over our heads. Yet, if our motivation is to make as much as we can so we can own as much as we can, we squander our time.

Today, consider your life decisions. When have you balanced your life well? When did you inappropriately sacrifice time for items you now longer own or desire? This Christmas, organize the next few weeks to give yourself and your loved ones extra time. You just might find it the best Christmas present you will receive!