The first worker replied, “I’m cutting stone for 10 shillings a day.” The next answered, “I’m putting in 10 hours a day on this job.” But the third said, “I’m helping Sir Christopher Wren construct one of London’s greatest cathedrals.” In our daily work and in our lives, it all comes down to perspective.
Most of us will spend over 100,000 hours in our lives working. And we’ll spend a pretty good share of time in other pursuits: with family and friends, in leisure activities, hobbies and even in retirement. Therefore, a little reflection on exactly “what are we doing” is time well spent.
We live in an age in which deep reflection seems to have nearly disappeared. We hurry from place to place, desiring everything in the here and now. Even an email or text that is not answered in a few minutes seems like an eternity to many. Yet our ancestors knew the value of counting their days and making sure every moment was held precious.
We can cherish our time more deeply by considering more often what exactly we are trying to accomplish each day. What do we hope the culmination of our entire lives will be? What is the bottom line for our lives? What’s most important to us, and are we pursuing those things?
Everyone we meet and come in contact with is busy. But what makes that person busy? And what occupies our time? Are they things that will matter for eternity or even next week? Oprah Winfrey puts it this way, “The essential question is not how busy you are, but what are you busy at?”.
Later this month I’ll be attending a birthday celebration for a 100-year-old friend. It sounds like a life long lived. In comparison to most, it is. But this friend would admit the years have come and gone all too quickly. Scripture reminds us we are just a vapor which appears for a little while and then is no more. This isn’t meant to depress but rather to help us to count each day so we don’t waste the time at hand.
Socrates said, “It is not living that matters but living rightly.” And the Bible says, “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” Another said, “The purpose of life is a life of purpose.”
The “bottom line” is important for every business, and it should be important for every person. We all would do well to occasionally take stock of our lives and contemplate what we are doing with the gift of time.
Do you know what is most important in your life? For me, I want to remember the words of the prophet Micah and remember God has already laid a plan before me and told me what is good — to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with my God. Every man and woman should spend time figuring out what is most important in his/her life and then to spend some more time figuring out what it might take to achieve those things.
Joe Sabah wrote, “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” Don’t wait around for the perfect time to start; that perfect time will never come around. Don’t get caught up in the tyranny of the urgent but rather focus on the necessity of the important. Think about the things you are really doing in all areas of your life. Spend time on the things that will make the greatest impact. Think about where you would want to be should you live to be 100 and then work your way back to the present. Think and pray through the major things you’ll need to do to take you from the present to the future, and begin working on a few of those things.
We all must be able to answer the question, “What are you doing?”. And someday we all will have to answer an even more profound question, “What have you done with the time you were given?”. To live a life well lived, one that is productive and joyful, it’s good to think about the “bottom line.”
Brian Horner is the Gulf Coast Division director of Marketplace Chaplains USA, which is an organization that provides workplace chaplains to corporate America.
For more information, visit www.mchapusa.com or call (800) 775-7657.
