I found one of the most insightful observations about time I have ever encountered in, of all places, a journal called Journal for Consumer Psychology. The gist of the article was this. Wasting time is terrible. As the researchers noted:
- You can replace the loss of a house.
- You can replace the loss of money.
- You can never replace the loss of time. *
How biblical is that?
Time is precious. Let’s all resolve to use it well in 2024.
As the psalmist wrote,
“Please, Lord,
show me my future.
Will I soon be gone?
5 You made my life short,
so brief that the time
means nothing to you.
“Human life is but a breath,
6 and it disappears
like a shadow.
Our struggles are senseless;
we store up more and more,
without ever knowing
who will get it all (Psalm 39:4-6) [CEV].
P.S. The holidays are upon us. I will take a break for the next two weeks and resume my posts in January. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
*See Melanie Rudd, Rhia Catapano, and Jennifer Aaker, “Making Time Matter: A Review of Research on Time and Meaning,” Journal for Consumer Psychology (2018): 1-23.