Thou Shall Not Steal

As a child, I always spent a lot of time with my grandparents. My own parents were very young and I had the privilege of being raised with the help of grandparents, great grands, and also one great-great-grand. All of my grandparents were stoic. They had a way of being that left you simultaneously in fear and at ease. I remember always thinking I had to be at my best in their presence because you never knew what might happen.

My grandfathers were especially unpredictable. They worked very hard to provide the things that the family needed. Most days they worked sun up to sun down. We had very little time with them one on one as a result of it. I always wanted to find a way to spend more time with them, but it never seemed to happen.

Time passed and I found myself becoming comfortable with them withholding their time, withholding affection, withholding love. I knew they had to work. I knew that them working so hard meant they loved us. I also knew that we would never get back what they were so skilled at withholding.

Time is a gift from God that we steal from those who are most important to us. We steal it and invest it in ways that seem profitable, but what is more valuable than time? What is more valuable than making sure to invest in the upbringing of a child? Is it more valuable to spend an hour with the ones you love or spend that extra hour at work? Time is the easiest thing to steal, yet it is impossible to recoup. There will never be another opportunity for granddaddy to take the time to read to us, take a trip with us, or share the story of how he became known simply as "boy".

My grandfather never devised a plan to go against the scripture thou shall not steal. If he were here today, I am confident that he would not have equated withholding time from us as stealing. However, everything that we have is given from God and when we neglect to give it back freely to his people, we are engaged in the actions of a thief.

Adayinthelife ;-)