Time is a finite commodity.  We can spend it, save it, use it, or waste it.  Most days I do a little bit of all of those.  I would imagine that many of us do.

One month from today we leave for Durham University in Durham, England.  We have a finite amount of days to get several things done.  Yes, there are the matters of banking, housing, travel, etc. to which we must attend.  However those don’t seem to be the most important matters for us.

The most important matters for us seem to be matters of an unquantifiable nature.  They are days spent in the sun at the beach or the pool (don’t know how much sun we will see next year).  They are the family and friends that go on those journeys with us.  They are curling up with the cat or the dog that we will leave with dear family members while we are gone.  (There is a special place in heaven for friends and family who volunteer to foster your pets while your gone.) There are things of Americana to do: take in some high school football games in a small town atmosphere and college football games on TV, watch the Braves on TBN, and drink lots of sweet tea.

However, we won’t get it all done.  We have several family members we won’t get to see before we leave.  We will have to just talk by phone or e-mail.  There are some friends we won’t get to have coffee or lunch with before we go.  Time will get away from one or both sides.  But I am thankful that we live in a world where we can communicate so easily.  So that even though we may be separated by miles of oceans, we can still feel together.

Maybe I needed an experience like to remind me that time is a finite commodity.  That we can spend it, save it, use it, or waste it.  I would imagine that many of us do.