24 hours and counting.....repeat.

Have you ever thought about how much our lives are marked on time? I mean, literally everything we do has a time associated with it. I am this old. I have been at this same crappy job this many years. I graduated in 4 years....ooo, you did in 5, ouch. Usain Bolt ran the 100m in 9.6 seconds. I am driving this many miles per HOUR. A professional football game is exactly 60 minutes. Maybe over-TIME. What is time? Can I touch time?

Because I'm an uber-dork at times (did this nerd just use the word 'uber'....he is a dork), I decided during one of Jenna and my walks this past weekend in Maine that we should comprehend how old earth is. Gee, isn't that fun, sweetheart?! (yea, whatever Dave, weirdo). What made me think of this was we were walking on the ocean, and there were these big, beautiful rocks that the waves were crashing into. It was an absolute picturesque scene......the ocean mist was spraying everyone as they walked by, and the wind was hollowing.....it was pretty cool. I was looking at these rocks, and it hit me that they must've been thousands, if not millions of years old (there I go measuring the rocks in time). Those rocks have a pretty long life, and most likely don't care about time.....but yet slowly, but surely, the rock will disappear as the ocean wears it down. New rocks surface, and the process repeats itself (this is where we get sand in case you were wondering.) It made me realize how long a rocks life is, and how short mine is. I then started estimating earth's life (about 6 billion years), and then of course the sun (about 15 billion years), and then my own (hopefully 90+ years!....woohoo). As I then so nerdily put it, my life is a pimple on the ass of earth's time. I will be washed up into the sea, just like these rocks, and, you guessed it, the process will repeat itself....depressing? Not quite.

If there is one constant in this world, it is time. Things are born, and things die, yet nothing really stays the same. Even a plastic bottle will decompose after 1,000 years (yes, that is depressing). How many of us measure ourselves against time? 'Oh my God, I am almost 30 (me).' 'Time is ticking, and I'm not married yet, and don't have a boy or girlfriend in site.' 'Am I really in the job I want....oh no, I've wasted 5 precious years here.' Or, 'When I'm 40 I will be retired, and have millions of dollars!' (get off the couch first) or 'I can't wait until I'm 25 so I can finally rent a car!'. Why are we always chasing time? Is it because that is all we truly have? It's our one constant 'asset.'

I use to be the worst 'time-chaser' ever. I needed everything now, and if I couldn't have it, I forced it....sound familiar? We have so many expectations on us. Be married by this age. Graduate at this age. Have kids at this age. Be grandparents at this age. Be retired at this age. Buy my first house at this age. And on, and on, and on. Who are we living for?

You see, I decided somewhere along the line, after chasing time burned me 'time' and again, that chasing time, is actually wasting time. You follow me on this? The act of chasing literally means  'pursuing to catch up with' (google.com). After my first business failed, or I could barely make payments on my mortgage, or didn't have enough money to fix my house, truck, belongings, I realized chasing time was robbing me of the time I actually had.....

One thing I am very thankful for is my faith. It's been instilled into me by my family, school, friends, and by MY CHOICE, I make it apart of my life....apart of my time on earth. After many failures, one of the biggest things I've learned is to maximize the time I have......by living 24 hours at a time...i.e., 1 day. Within that day, I am going to commit to myself that I am going to give all of myself to the world, for just those 24 hours. I'm not going to worry about 48 hours from now, just those 24. I am going to set goals, and get 1-step closer to them, 24 hours at a time. This includes health, diet and exercise. It inlcudes prayer, and reflection.....friendship, community, hope, patience, forgiveness, love, perseverance, balance, tenacity, visualization, wisdom, kindness, charity, compassion, courage,  selflessness, and sacrifice. In 24 hours, that is all I am going to strive for. Nothing more, nothing less. I know, if I live my life according to these principals, 24 hours at a time, at the end of my days, I would have achieved so much, in the present moment. By assuming these principals, I release myself from the burden of time...I am no longer chasing, I am now living......do you see the difference? By living in the day....living within 24 hours, I make time, timeless.

24 hours, repeat....repeat what is good...repeat what is right....before you know it, 24 hours, turns into 24 days, into 24 years....reality will get rid of the old, and bring in the new. Why chase it?