Time …you can’t slow it down, you can’t speed it up, you
can't make it, you can’t get it back. There is a time where it matters
and times that it really doesn't matter.
Time is fleeting and yet time can feel like it is never
going to stop.
There are moments that you
forget and there are moments that can never be taken away.
I will never forget the moment in time,
3 weeks ago when my husband walked into the house to tell me that my father had
a motorcycle accident and had died instantly. There are times when you
feel like you are in slow motion, when time does not feel real…when time
doesn't make sense. There are moments for us when a time means that life
will never be the same.
You can’t change time, but
you can waste it.
I have always tried to live as if
every moment matters and have never wanted to waste any of it.
I learned this from my dad.
Dad could achieve 10 hours worth
of work in one hour. With his speed, his passion, his skill, he could make
anything happen when it needed to and he did it in record time.
And yet when he was talking to
someone, giving to someone, sharing something, helping someone, time was
never an issue. He took the moments to listen, to impress, to share his views,
to make you feel special.
It doesn't mean he didn't ever
waste time. Oh, my gosh could he do that. Just try and go buy something
with him and see how much time it took for him to make a decision. Every option
must be explored, every possibility uncovered and then after thinking about it
for a time he would finally buy it. But you knew it would be the best deal, the
best option and the best saving of money around. And then he would say “that is
never a waste of time”.
I am so thankful for all the time
we had. Each time I saw him he would hug me and say, “love you real big”. His
squeeze would almost hurt it was so strong, no-one will ever hug me like that
again.
I am so thankful for all the times
in “Shadrack”, his speedboat. My favourite place was sitting beside him in the
front seat, the motor so loud that we couldn't talk, but he would smile at me,
wink and rub my leg and I knew there was no greater place on earth. He would
drive that boat and take people skiing all day if he could, as long as he could
stop for a cup of tea every now and then.
I am so thankful for the times when
I would come to him and explain a crazy idea. His first response was to take
the time to tell me all the ways it would not work and then he would
make it a reality. I don't know who will help me make my crazy ideas a
reality now he is gone.
I am thankful that he would never
let a time go by to speak his mind. I was always amazed how he could be
so cranky, politically incorrect and many times rude, yet still people loved
him wherever he went and remembered the things that he said to them. I know how
he felt about me, what he thought all the time. I will never be left wondering.
I am so thankful that, as hard-nosed
as he could be, if you stuck with him you quickly learned that he was also the
biggest softy out. As children we will never forget the times we would
all watch “Little House on the Prairie” and as each episode ended, my brother
and I would look at Dad and wait for the tears to roll down his cheeks… and
then we would laugh at him.
I am so thankful that in the
lowest time in my life, he was the one who dropped everything to be
there, hold me, cry with me and tell me that everything was going to be alright
and I always felt if he was there it would be okay.
I am thankful that even though he
could have simply showered his grandchildren with things, he always chose TIME
over things, and always spent quality time and quantity time with
each of them. My kids will carry those memories, experiences and words with
them wherever they go.
I am so thankful that for the past
12 years in particular, we have truly done life together in a faith community,
where we worshiped, learned, laughed, gave and served together side by side. I
was proud to share my father with so many children at SCKC (a camp for children of neglect), for whom he was
their “poppy”.
I am so thankful that he lived out
his faith. Every day for him was a TIME
to live out what he believed. Colossians 3:6-7 describes the faithfulness of my
dad.
“You received
Christ, the master: now live HIM. You’re deeply rooted in him, You're well
constructed upon him, you know your way around the faith. Now do what you have
been taught and start living it…and let your living spill over into
thanksgiving”
Such was the faith of my father.
Although this time for him
on this earth has passed, I don't regret one moment of it.
There are some people that time
cannot contain, there are some people like my dad where there is simply not
enough time to share all the funny, inspiring, challenging ways that he
impacted my life.
As I am my father’s daughter I
never want to miss a TIME to say…time is precious, don’t waste time,
live it to the full and live without regrets, take the time to
let those you love know it.
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