oldie but a goodie
its slowly and rudely dawning on me how truly old i am. the yawning chasm called generation gap between my niece and i is enough proof that time has sneakily passed me by.
so there i was hanging out in my 13 year old niece's room, pretending to be a rockstar and doing a guitar duet with her. she was the one who taught me the cords (and how to play) Guns N Roses' Sweet Child of Mine. Last time I headbanged to that song, I was still wearing a school uniform and playing jackstones. I was only in fourth grade then.
Apparently, a 'revival' had come about, and the song was now popular again amongst high school students. At least in their high school -- i have no delusions about being plugged into the pulse of the youth. So I wont generalize =p
It was a little weird but cute as well. This was after all the little girl I used to carry around, twirling her in the air. She was the amusement prop I would bring to my friend's birthday parties in college. Now, I'm getting guitar lessons from her, and was secretly rummaging through her stuff to check if she already had a boyfriend.
Ahh, time. How constant you are. You are a cause of great comfort and great distress at the same time. Time comforts because when problems, hurtful situations, come plunging into life with much pomp, I cling on to the truth that God will always heal my hurts and one of the tools He uses is Time. Yet, it distresses me because as the hands of my wall clock continue to adamantly march forward, I wonder if I had made good use of the little time lent to me.
This morning, my teenage niece was visiting our house, because of a great and noble purpose. She was BORED (as required of all teenagers) and wanted something else to preoccupy her. After all, cable TV, a guitar, a piano, free food and the world wide web at home is not enough to entertain anyone, right?. Haha. Don't get me wrong, I love her to bits. I just become transfixed every time I realize how grown up and not grown up she already is. How amazingly teenager like she was. Because she was. Just until recently, I was the one hoarding her attitudes. Now I'm catering to it. Again, time is the culprit.
Wanting to give her a good chuckle, I popped the DVD of my 18th debut in the player. It was of course, originally in VHS format but was just converted. Thank you technology. I'm glad you had a major growth spurt during my generation.
It was shudder-inducing of course---watching my 18 year old self. Bratty, tempestuous and self absorbed. the niece kept on asking about the weird outfits and the outdated music. Every now and then, she'd release a high pitched giggle. I wondered about them myself. Laughable to say the least, I was half afraid lyrics would appear on the screen. The DVD was reminiscent of the background videos they show in videoke booths.
I guess our relationship with Time is really dependent on what we've preoccupied ourselves with. My conclusion is that if you've tried to satisfy your fleeting self centered pleasures, you always end up wondering if you could have had it better. Worse, you could end up in regret. But if you use time serving God, serving others, pursuing a worthy life dream in line with the Creator's will, then you've got it pretty good. There's no negotiating with time after all. It will forge forward regardless of anything, earthquakes, tsunami, even prayers. Tick tock, tick tock, I've never seen a more consistent and efficient employee.
Now that I'm dangerously getting close to graduating into another age category, I've decided to work harder on my relationship with time. With prayers and a thankful heart, I know I'll become a better steward of this limited resource.
________
*as a testament to my age, I'm using Rainbow Brite as my user icon. If you know her, then we're probably in the same age range. If you don't, then its either you're too young to date, or too old to be eating a lot of chicharon.
so there i was hanging out in my 13 year old niece's room, pretending to be a rockstar and doing a guitar duet with her. she was the one who taught me the cords (and how to play) Guns N Roses' Sweet Child of Mine. Last time I headbanged to that song, I was still wearing a school uniform and playing jackstones. I was only in fourth grade then.
Apparently, a 'revival' had come about, and the song was now popular again amongst high school students. At least in their high school -- i have no delusions about being plugged into the pulse of the youth. So I wont generalize =p
It was a little weird but cute as well. This was after all the little girl I used to carry around, twirling her in the air. She was the amusement prop I would bring to my friend's birthday parties in college. Now, I'm getting guitar lessons from her, and was secretly rummaging through her stuff to check if she already had a boyfriend.
Ahh, time. How constant you are. You are a cause of great comfort and great distress at the same time. Time comforts because when problems, hurtful situations, come plunging into life with much pomp, I cling on to the truth that God will always heal my hurts and one of the tools He uses is Time. Yet, it distresses me because as the hands of my wall clock continue to adamantly march forward, I wonder if I had made good use of the little time lent to me.
This morning, my teenage niece was visiting our house, because of a great and noble purpose. She was BORED (as required of all teenagers) and wanted something else to preoccupy her. After all, cable TV, a guitar, a piano, free food and the world wide web at home is not enough to entertain anyone, right?. Haha. Don't get me wrong, I love her to bits. I just become transfixed every time I realize how grown up and not grown up she already is. How amazingly teenager like she was. Because she was. Just until recently, I was the one hoarding her attitudes. Now I'm catering to it. Again, time is the culprit.
Wanting to give her a good chuckle, I popped the DVD of my 18th debut in the player. It was of course, originally in VHS format but was just converted. Thank you technology. I'm glad you had a major growth spurt during my generation.
It was shudder-inducing of course---watching my 18 year old self. Bratty, tempestuous and self absorbed. the niece kept on asking about the weird outfits and the outdated music. Every now and then, she'd release a high pitched giggle. I wondered about them myself. Laughable to say the least, I was half afraid lyrics would appear on the screen. The DVD was reminiscent of the background videos they show in videoke booths.
I guess our relationship with Time is really dependent on what we've preoccupied ourselves with. My conclusion is that if you've tried to satisfy your fleeting self centered pleasures, you always end up wondering if you could have had it better. Worse, you could end up in regret. But if you use time serving God, serving others, pursuing a worthy life dream in line with the Creator's will, then you've got it pretty good. There's no negotiating with time after all. It will forge forward regardless of anything, earthquakes, tsunami, even prayers. Tick tock, tick tock, I've never seen a more consistent and efficient employee.
Now that I'm dangerously getting close to graduating into another age category, I've decided to work harder on my relationship with time. With prayers and a thankful heart, I know I'll become a better steward of this limited resource.
________
*as a testament to my age, I'm using Rainbow Brite as my user icon. If you know her, then we're probably in the same age range. If you don't, then its either you're too young to date, or too old to be eating a lot of chicharon.