Time will shape your life (The Jar of Time)
I study a lot and I seek knowledge daily, but as little as the title sounds, it goes deeper beyond the texts. Time will shape your life if you don’t shape your time. I was with a Lieutenant Colonel yesterday and we were talking about life experiences and growth and she mentioned that in life as a woman; "you need to shape your time before time will shape you". Because of so many distractions and traffic, I could not get the entire information, but I think I got some info and why she put it only for women. However, mulling over it, I think this is beyond only women. We all need to shape our time before time shapes our lives.
I was in church last week Sunday and the preacher talked about doing some things at the right time. Experience is the best teacher, they say but I think experience is a map in a particular direction. At the end of it all, we all want to look back and see something tangible on our path that will define our happiness.
Time will shape your capacity to work at a certain age, the rate at which you can run, your look, and how attractive you are. Time will shape everything.
Apostle James in James 4:14 in the Bible: "You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes”
There is time for everything and nothing is more important than using your time well. You can’t hold God for ransom for anything. We are all here in the same space where others are getting things right. You are open to many things, but your decisions are driving everything about you.
The popular saying in Chinese:
Time is gold.
“An inch of time is worth an inch of gold; yet you can’t buy an inch of time at an inch of gold.”
Time is priceless.
I read on Invajy on a seminar he attended some time ago about time and using your time right. After so many lectures, the instructors said, it is time for a quiz. Then he removed an empty jar and placed it on the table, then the instructor filled the jar up with small rocks. After a while, the jar could not take in more rocks and he asked the student, “Is the jar full”? They all said yes.
Then he picked another container filled with gravel and dump some gravel inside the same jar with rocks and the gravel spread inside the jar. Then he asked again, "Is the jar full?" Now the student knew probably more particles could enter. Then he reached under his table again and brought out a bucket of sand and poured some inside the jar and the sand took some space in the jar. He asked again, “Is it full?” They said no.
Then he added some water inside the same jar, and the jar could contain it. Then he asked the crucial question, "Is the Jar of your life full?"
Someone answered, "There is always space in your life and when you work hard, you can always add more things to your life but the instructor said that isn’t the point, the point is “put the rocks in your jar first. The jar is your life”
The small rocks are things that if you lost, will make a big impact on your life and would destroy you, such as your family, your life partner, your children, your physical and mental health and others.
The gravels are other things that are important after those, like your career, house, job, social connection, friends and others. The sand are other minor things that make life juicy. If you put the sand in the jar first, there will not be space for the fist-sized rocks and the gravel. The moral of the story is using your time right or shaping your time before your time will shape you.
In this journey through an unknown path to a known destination, time is the main key to get it right. Shape your time. I am shaping mine.
Michael B, A.K.A Tykee, I am a software developer, writer and blockchain enthusiast. I write about finance, programming, tech and lifestyle. My contents are my opinions