Did you ever wonder who came up with the saying "time flies when you're having fun"? It seems to me that time flies even when I am not necessarily having the time of my life. Perhaps everyone looks at time from the perspective of their own life experience. For example, for a ten (10) year old child, each day is approximately .0275 percent of his or her lifetime. By the time I reach fifty (50), a half century, each day will be only .00548 percent of my entire lifetime up to that moment.
As you grow older, each twenty-four period becomes a smaller and smaller portion of your life. While each day does still have the same number of hours, they seem to pass by faster and faster. Perhaps you remember as a child how it seemed to take forever for a holiday or you birthday to arrive on a calendar. As adults, the birthdays seem to arrive more quickly every year and you barely remember what has taken place in your life over the latest twelve (12) months since the last big day.
Many professionals are taught to manage time wisely because once time is lost you cannot get it back. Business leaders are taught to manage time for projects and deadlines. Athletes in many sports are ever mindful of the clock because using minutes and seconds wisely may mean the difference between winning and losing. We even attempt to teach our children to use their time wisely for homework, chores, extra curricular activities, work and cleaning their rooms. However, what everyone young and old must remember is that time passes whether we manage it well or not.
I started out by posing the question "who came up with the saying 'time flies when you're having fun'?" It may be true that there are agonizing times when it seems as though time does not pass quickly enough. On the other hand, you may be the one facing a deadline for work and the hours seem to slip right through your grasp. You may be unemployed, your benefits are running out and the weeks and months just seem to disappear. Someone near and dear to you may be afflicted with a terrible disease and you fear not being there when the time comes to say good-bye. Probably all of us have experienced one of these scenarios as some point in our lives.
Many people flippantly throw out the common saying, "time flies when you're having fun". I am never quite sure it's being used in the proper context, even when I have said those words. What I do know is that time passes quickly when it is spring or summer in Minnesota. Time passes quickly for parents when you seemingly have a toddler one day and a high school graduate the next. Sometimes the time that has passed is evident in the mirror or when you realize that you have been out of high school "for how many years"!
How much fun we are actually having as time passes in our lives is largely based on our perspective or approach to life. I am not sure that it was ever intended that our lives would be filled with fun at every turn. Human lives, like yours and mine are filled with joy, sadness, happiness, sorrow, peace and anxiety. In light of that knowledge, it might be more appropriate to state that "time flies when you are content". True contentment comes from the ability to be content, satisfied with our situation in life. Sometimes you will be having fun but contentment does not depend on entertainment.
Whatever the circumstances of our lives, we will all do well to work toward being content. [Philippians 4:11] No matter what our station in life, time is going to fly!
~ DB Turnmire
Many professionals are taught to manage time wisely because once time is lost you cannot get it back. Business leaders are taught to manage time for projects and deadlines. Athletes in many sports are ever mindful of the clock because using minutes and seconds wisely may mean the difference between winning and losing. We even attempt to teach our children to use their time wisely for homework, chores, extra curricular activities, work and cleaning their rooms. However, what everyone young and old must remember is that time passes whether we manage it well or not.
I started out by posing the question "who came up with the saying 'time flies when you're having fun'?" It may be true that there are agonizing times when it seems as though time does not pass quickly enough. On the other hand, you may be the one facing a deadline for work and the hours seem to slip right through your grasp. You may be unemployed, your benefits are running out and the weeks and months just seem to disappear. Someone near and dear to you may be afflicted with a terrible disease and you fear not being there when the time comes to say good-bye. Probably all of us have experienced one of these scenarios as some point in our lives.
Many people flippantly throw out the common saying, "time flies when you're having fun". I am never quite sure it's being used in the proper context, even when I have said those words. What I do know is that time passes quickly when it is spring or summer in Minnesota. Time passes quickly for parents when you seemingly have a toddler one day and a high school graduate the next. Sometimes the time that has passed is evident in the mirror or when you realize that you have been out of high school "for how many years"!
How much fun we are actually having as time passes in our lives is largely based on our perspective or approach to life. I am not sure that it was ever intended that our lives would be filled with fun at every turn. Human lives, like yours and mine are filled with joy, sadness, happiness, sorrow, peace and anxiety. In light of that knowledge, it might be more appropriate to state that "time flies when you are content". True contentment comes from the ability to be content, satisfied with our situation in life. Sometimes you will be having fun but contentment does not depend on entertainment.
Whatever the circumstances of our lives, we will all do well to work toward being content. [Philippians 4:11] No matter what our station in life, time is going to fly!
~ DB Turnmire
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