The Sanford Berenberg Experience: Our Greatest Gift and Our Greatest Challenge

Good Morning,

I have been spending a lot more time over the past year or so, helping others, and at the same time spending time to help me de-stress from the crazy busy daily routines. What I have found is something I already knew, in my mind, but felt it in my heart.

We all have many assets: Our wisdom (experience, skills and knowledge), our physical abilities, our wealth (such as it is), our connections, our love and our time.

Of all of these assets, only one is finite. Only one is measured out to be used once and is gone.

· Some will say money, but that is not true. We can always get more money and I believe I once spent the same dollar bill two times over the course of a few years. We can get a second job, get a better paying job, and find other ways for additional income.

· Some will say Love, that they give all they can, and it can be exhausting to shower love over someone, and then be expected to do it again and again. While it can be demanding, we can always find more love to give others.

· Some will say Wisdom, and that may be true for those who never strive to Learn and Grow Daily, if at all. Yet, we all tend to learning something new even with the least of efforts.

· Some will say our Physical Abilities, but again, we can condition ourselves to do more, exercise, etc. It is painful, but can be done.

· Some will say our Connections, but unless we live as a secluded hermit, even the Monks in monasteries make new friends and connections.

Time is the only resource which is finite. We get 24 hours a day, and it can only be spent once (until the time machine is invented, but then again, disruptions to the time-space-continuum are another issue altogether… go watch Dr. Who).

Since time is finite, how we spend our time is increasingly important. Money lost by dropping it somewhere, getting a bad meal, a lot bet, etc., can be regained, but an hour waiting in line is gone, never to come back.

How we spend our time tells us what is important to us. It also tells those we spend it with that they are important to us, as we spent the time. Being happy about it is an additional benefit, but the time spent is key.

Time spent helping others then is greatest gift we can give anyone. It is a gift that cannot be recouped. The money I spent on Christmas for my friends and family can be made up again.

When we give someone an hour of our time, it is priceless. It is a gift that we give only once. Maybe that is one the reasons my Aunt who is spending the rest of her days in a nursing home smiles so much when I visit her for 30 minutes, knowing it will take over 2 hours to make the trip. That is time that I have given to her that no one else will ever get.

It also explains that when we spend time doing things, that others who do not get the time with us may feel neglected as we have chosen to give our greatest gift elsewhere.

Over the last year or so, I have stepped up my help with the Boy Scouts, and with all the hubbub they have been going through, I focus on helping the boys in front of me, those in my troop. I am told being a Scoutmaster is only a 1 hour a week job, and then you hear the laughing. It’s more like 10 – 20 hours a week, on the weeks that you don’t go camping.

My time reading has been shortened each day, so my reading is focused on God’s word and devotionals. That is where what time I have I want to be spent. I still read other books, but my hour a day has been decimated over the last year. I have added time to play an online game to help me de-stress. I have tried giving that up, to read, but find that I am not always in the mood to or able to focus on reading the materials I often dive into. Then again, I could try sleeping more too.

I have had to re-district my time, to spend more with my family, more helping the Scouts, less on frivolities and more to keep me sane.

Time is precious.

This makes how we use our greatest gift, our time, one of our greatest challenges.

We must consider how to not waste it, or use it in a way which will only eat up more of it, and take us away from who we are, who we love and what we love to do.

In call centers, every second counts. Well, that is so true for life today, especially in America with all of our ‘time saving’ devices which only make us do more and more eating up our precious, never to be regained time.

So that is my challenge to me and my charge to you.

Make every second count. Make your greatest gift mean something.

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.learnandgrowdaily.com

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/