TIME

“The future is something that everyone reaches at the rate of 60minutes an hour, whatever he does, wherever he is” ~ C.S. Lewis

Think about every cliché you’ve ever heard about time; there’s no time like the present, time heals all wounds, time is running out, Rome wasn’t built in a day, in the nick of time, call it day, keep spinning your wheels, time is money… time is of the essence. TIME—not just a magazine—measured with clocks and watches; birthdays, anniversaries, height-markings on the wall, laugh-lines and stretch marks… the unending inevitability of change. As Faith Baldwin says, “time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations.”

During rush hour traffic, instead of focusing on the bumper of the car in front of me, and getting frustrated, I gaze out of my car window. On more than one occasion I have noticed someone sitting at their breakfast table, or sitting in their living room just staring out the window. It dawned on me that some people spend their days waiting for their nights, and their nights waiting for their days. Those people gave up on life long ago; perhaps they sit in front of the television and treat life as if it will go on forever, but some of us aren’t really living just by waiting for time to pass.

On the other hand, some people never have enough time, they’re going, going, going—it’s the opposite extreme—they are so busy doing, they don’t allow for stillness in their lives; a time for reflection to ensure they are actually fulfilling the time they have with things they desire, that are truly important, as well as what they came to this world to manifest.

There is a story about a kabbalists who wore a watch. This watch was passed down and given over, generation after generation, to another great kabbalist. He would always gaze at the watch. He would stare at it. He looked at his watch constantly; while he was praying, while he was studying and his students grew curious, “What is so exciting about that watch? Every watch tells time – this time is not any different than any other time – why are you so excited all the time?”

He responded, “When you look at a watch, it tells you how things are getting older. Everything is now one minute older, one hour older, one day older, one week older, one month older. Those are the watches of the world. That is where everybody lives. But this watch does not tell me about anything getting older. It tells me how we are getting closer and closer and closer to Mashiach, what is called the complete revelation of the Light of the Creator, to that ultimate power of renewal, to that ultimate power of newness.”

And that is our choice today. Do we choose to get old, to continue to draw, through our actions and consciousness, ourselves and our lives step after step after step closer to the power of old and the energy of death? Or do we choose to take steps, one after the other after the other to the power of renewal and life?

For most of us, time lacks physical reality. Time is not something we can hear or hold in our hands. Time is fleeting, unstoppable and undeniable in its passing. So how do you want to spend it?

Kabbalah asks us to picture every day, every hour, and every minute as living things. Each and every day is given to us in much the same way that children are given to the parents; every day is a whole new world with a unique energy and potential, much like a newborn child. Each day is scheduled for great things – meet the day’s potential TODAY.

When we look at our lives we usually assess them in weeks, months and years, but in truth we’re meant to focus on days. Within each day there is a spark of Light that one is meant to perfect. Kabbalists teach that a person is given an exact amount of days to live.

The spark we’re meant to perfect today cannot be perfected tomorrow. Just as the spark we could have perfected yesterday cannot be perfected today. Each day has its own unique work related to a specific aspect of the soul that needs purification and elevation. By revealing the Light you’re supposed to in that day, it grows your soul through the process, enabling you to transform into your true self.

Remember that your Light isn’t dependent on who you are shining it on. Your Light is your Light.

The kabbalists teach that at the end of every day, when we go to sleep, if we have perfected our spark, it is sent up into our spiritual bank where it remains to protect us and give us Light and blessings.

JOURNAL:

Think about one thing that you keep putting off.
Ask yourself why. Are you afraid it won’t work out the way you want it to? Are you putting it off because you don’t want to apply the effort?
Stop waiting around, you deserve great things.

“One man has enthusiasm for thirty minutes, another for 30 days, but it is the man who has it for 30 years who makes a success of his life.” ~ Edward Butler