Time

As I spend time here at the Casa, I reflect on time. Time has been something I’ve struggled to accept, as it can be associated with positive and negative outcomes.

I’ll press pause on time and give you a quick backstory. I met a brother during our scavenger hunt around the neighborhood and was invited to a bonfire. Here, we were all invited to their weekly Saturday morning mass following a mini social gathering with delicious pastries and coffee. I knew I wanted to attend mass more regularly – as in daily mass, when I joined DC Service Corps, so I’ve been going ever since they extended that invitation.

The last Saturday of September was the reading of Ecclesiastes 11:9-12. God has given us this amazing power of being able to choose our actions. The homily touched on time; time is aging, time is healing, time can be a long wait, but it can quickly fade away. Time is limited, our time here is limited, today – this very moment will never come back. I really reflected on that these past couple of days, I started to ask myself if the actions I’m taking are stirring me closer to God or away? I then start to think about my aging parents and how time is working against them, but at the same time, I think about my newborn nephews and how time has been working for them as they grow and learn.

Time can be very complicated. As I’m currently doing a year of service, it forces me to slow down and really embrace each moment and live intentionally every day. I reflect on the limited time I have at the Casa and as a DC Service Corps volunteer. A month has quickly passed, and I still feel like it was yesterday that I was hugging my dad goodbye outside the Casa while the rest of the volunteers awaited my presence to begin dinner. At that moment, I felt that I really was part of a community, they hadn’t started eating until I got there.

Moving forward, I want to take advantage of the time I have here on earth, at the Casa, at my volunteer site, and in every day, God blesses me with a new one. I want to have a good relationship with time, since it won’t ever stop, and like I said before, God has given us the power, the freedom to choose what we want to do with our lives, young or old. 

Question for Reflection: How have you grown to appreciate or have a better relationship with time?