A Brisk Wind

One of the first things I do when I get home from work is to take off my watch.  I'm through thinking about time for the day.  A busy young mother told me recently that her days often feel long, yet the years seem short.  I agree.  There are days that feel long because I've had so much packed into them.  At the end of such days, all I can do is flop into bed and fall into deep, rejuvenating sleep.  Yet, when I look back from one year to the next, each seems to have flown by.  "Time is a brisk wind, for each hour it brings something new," says a wise statement attributed to Paracelsus, a Medieval physician.  As I reflect on that brisk wind that I call my life, I am reminded of the preciousness of each day and the gift of enjoying even those days that feel long, for when I look back on them at some point, they will have gone quickly and the question I will ask myself is: Did I use those hours, those days to the very best of my ability?  Did I enjoy time for the gift that it is?