To Million Minutes

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Two Million Minutes


I recently watched a documentary called 2 Million Minutes that chronicles the lives of students from the US, China, and India. (Very good - I bought it!) This led me to thinking about time, the passage of time, and what we are doing with it.

We tend to spend our time either saying "where did the day go; time flies" or "this day is dragging; I wish it would go faster." Ultimately we are ignoring those valuable minutes as they pass steadily by.

Each day we find ourselves caught up in the drama that it brings. Don't kid yourself, everyone gets caught up. No one, and I do mean no one, is immune. From the drama of "oh no, we're out of coffee" to "traffic was hideous today" to "I didn't study for my test" to "If my boss asks me to do one more thing" to "no one appreciates me" to "I did that better than anyone ever could" to "everyone loves me" to "I'm the most amazing thing I've ever seen" to "people need to be told how to treat me" to etc., etc., etc. You get the point. We make a federal case out of every little insignificant detail of our lives. Why? Where is the value in that?

We each need to ask ourselves, what are we doing with our minutes. Are we enriching lives? Are we making the world a better place? Are we giving freely? Are we living life to the fullest? Are we honoring God? Shifting our focus from the self-centered "I" to those around us and those in our lives will completely change the way we live; choosing to see the good in our days and in those around us.

If we live to be 70 years old (and if the math is correct), we will have spent 1,931,184,000 minutes on this earth. What will we have to show for those valuable minutes? Together, let's see the beauty, reach out to others, and make a difference in the world and in the lives of those around us.

May God bless your every minute!