A message from the Rev’d Amanda Collinson

Posted by Admin on 1 February 2017, 12:45 am

Amanda Collinson

Priest-in-Charge

St John the Baptist Church

Northwood.

Tel: 01983 294913

Hello everyone!

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I do love a good quote…and there are many around the topic of Time – one of my favourites is the following: ‘There are 3 things you cannot recover in life: the WORD after it is said, the MOMENT after it is missed and the TIME after it is gone.’ We have now entered the month of the shortest time – February has just 28 days this year, that’s 672 hours or 40320 minutes….hard to comprehend? Don’t worry, you are not alone – my boys think cleaning their teeth for two minutes is forever!!!
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However for me, time seems so short and is truly flying by – I cannot believe we have already completed one month of 2017 and as I see my boys seemingly growing each day, I am fearful that I will blink and they will be at secondary school only for me to blink again and find myself waving to them as they leave home. But the thing is we don’t help ourselves as I, along with the rest of the world I think, fill our days and time so much more than we ever did before. My folks, both fully retired, say on a regular basis that now is the busiest time of their lives and aware of their social calendar (second only to my boys it seems!) coupled with pressure from family members old and young asking for their help and support, DIY chores around the house to name a few of the things that that fill their time I think they are probably right. And my generation is as bad, if not worse…
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I have recently spoken to a daughter who has just lost her Mum at a fantastic wonderfully old age. However, despite her Mum living ten decades, the daughter said how she wished she has asked her about this or questioned her about that. We may shake our head but have you really never thought this about a relative that has died? Do you always use your time wisely? William Penn once said ‘Time is what we want most in the world yet use it the worst.’
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So as we start Month 2 of 2017 how are you doing with your time? I don’t dare ask whether you have kept your New Year’s resolutions (hmmm, I won’t waste time on that one!) but think about how you spend your time this month. I have started writing a to-do-this-year list…. it is not full of spectacular things just things that I will regret if I haven’t done by the end of the year: I have ticked two off already: to have lunch with a dear friend (something I meant to do last year but never got around to it!) and to go to the Mayflower theatre to watch a show just with James! Hurrah…..however there are still many more to do and I am determined to achieve them this year.
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And because there are no life-changing items on my to-do list, I truly think that I will be easily able to achieve them, but only if I don’t waste my time doing insignificant stuff, prioritizing the wrong way etc. etc.…. and make sure I don’t waste time moaning about what I don’t have or cannot do, but rejoicing in what I can do or have!
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I am going to write that letter I have wanted to, call that person I haven’t heard from for ages, do that thing I have wanted to do for years, read that book that has been unopened on the shelf for too long, take up a much-loved-but-missed hobby again. I am going to take care of my time and not let it take care of me.
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Time is free….but it is priceless – in this short month, and indeed for the rest of this year think carefully in how you spend your time because as Jonathan Estrin said ‘The way we spend our time defines who we are.’
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May you have a blessed time this month!
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Rev’d Amanda.

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