THE ECONOMICS OF TIME
Do you believe that only famous people have a unique purpose? Do you think that only larger-than-life personalities have a raison d’etre, and you do not? You might want to reconsider those attitudes, for we all have a Divine purpose – a G-d given, soul driven mission in this world which we may have intuited as a child and experienced through our identification with great people. That secret yearning, to strive to reach ones ultimate potential, is an intuitive message from our souls (neshoma) encouraging us to be that special someone.
In order to achieve this lofty goal we not only need to refine ourselves but it is most conducive to structure our surroundings with supernal cues that remind us of our true purpose and highest aspirations. The third essential “ingredient” is the elusive “dimension” of time. Just like space can be measured, so also time can be measured by the amount of cerebral ticks of our minds as they synchronize with pulse beat of our desires.
Time is not just an invention of convenience for personal scheduling but has been given by The Creator to help us define the spatial reality of the Jewish year. Like each room in a house, which each serves a unique purpose and function as designed by its architect and constructed by its builders, how much more so are the coordinates of time, which can be perceived as an ethereal “structure” that have an on the sight Architect and His wise talented “builders” (the Sages) who have authorization to synchronize our calendar with the Heavenly timelines. So let us take an opportunity to focus on the use and value of our precious time.
When we learn how to manage our time so as to prioritize our tasks and put our service of the Creator (Hashem) first and foremost, then we receive our “promotions”, but first we are tested in using our time well. Although each of the calibrations on the clock is evenly spaced and the hands of the clock travel at a uniform speed, time is not objective and homogeneous, but subjective, varied and responsive to our attitudes and moods. This flexibility gives us an opportunity to make a meaningful choice: We can consider time to be a vessel that can hold a collection of golden eternal currency or see it as merely a container for storing the ephemera of a mundane existence. We are all capable of transforming time by converting it from an earthly time piece into a G-d given gift that can be used as the vehicle for achieving eternal holiness in our lives.
Each one of us has the most desirable of all possible goals for which to strive towards – those being specified good deeds known as mitzvoth which are instruments of eternality. These precious “gifts of opportunity” bestowed upon us by the Creator are embedded within even the most “mundane” task and activity, just ready to transform it into one of overarching importance.
Mitzvoth are not only limited to great and heroic community projects but any act can be done in service of Hashem when it is done for the right reasons in the correct way.
When we attempt to realign our priorities, there is one force that will not be happy. Our negative inclination (yetzer hara) will use all of its wiles to dissuade us from our goals, which is often an easy task, since the array of opportunities for misaligning time is seemingly endless. [1] Thus our first step in this process is to ask Hashem for help in refining and maximizing the use of our precious time. The Sages inform us that we need only move in the right direction, creating an opening as small as the size of a pin hole, for the Creator to then open for us opportunities the size of the doors of the Holy Temple (Bais HaMigdash) in Jerusalem, may it be built soon in our days.
Watch an expert packing a suitcase. He or she will be able to put more in and get it to close more smoothly then we ever could have imagined. Our days are like that suitcase in that, throughout each day, we are given opportunities to find corners and crevices of time that are just right for certain activities.
And where is all of this leading? After we have practiced these techniques for a while, we may truly appreciate that each minute of life and opportunity is precious thereby always being inspired to fill that time in meaningful ways with a positive attitude. Through striving to fulfill ones unique abilities our inner creative energy will come bursting forth with joy and dedication. Priorities will then align themselves almost naturally and intuitively and the time we devote to our good deeds will often be expressed in minutes salvaged from the corners and crevices of that “suitcase” we spoke of earlier and placed into the service of Hashem to fulfill His purpose for us in this world. May we merit this blessing soon in our days.
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[1] . Indeed, the Sages tell us that the main stumbling block of even the greatest righteous people (tzaddikim) were rooted in the miscalculation of time. This sin of Adam and Chava was not that they ate from the Tree of Knowledge, but that they ate from the Tree of Knowledge at the wrong time. The Sages explain that had they waited until Shabbos, the Creator would have given them permission to eat from this tree. Likewise, King David was judged for marrying Bas Sheva before the Heavenly designated time.
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