The Gift of Time

Tell me: Do you remember what you received three years ago for your birthday? What about two years ago for Valentine’s Day? Perhaps what you received for Christmas last year?

As someone whose love languages include quality time, the most memorable gifts I’ve received have always involved either spending time with the person giving the gift or sometimes just the time and memories themselves. I may not be able to tell you what I received for Christmas last year, but I can tell you about…

• The Starbucks coffee, donut, and People Magazine my husband brought me one morning after a sleepless night with a newborn four and a half years ago.
• The homemade video and paper clues my husband created and gave me thirteen years ago when he proposed. The clues took me to a spa, a turkey sandwich picnic dinner, an outdoor theater showing of Les Miserables, and a dance in the park.
• The shopping trip my mom took me on when I got my first “real, adult job” as a teacher thirteen years ago. Those outfits are no longer in my closet (Birthing two children has made sure of that!), but I still have the memories.
• The trip twenty years ago when my grandparents took me to Branson, Missouri where we rode the Mark Twain Riverboat and visited Silver Dollar City just the three of us…no siblings allowed!
• All of the fishing trips (from twenty five years ago and on) I grew up taking with my uncle where we would sit on his boat, sprinkle canned corn into the water (It’s weird, but it works!), and wait for catfish to bite.

Why do I remember these moments in my life? I remember them because of the time and thoughtfulness that went into each occasion. Our children are the same. They value the time we spend with them (and the thoughtfulness that went into that time) far more than anything we could pull off the shelf at Target.

If you ask my older son what his favorite thing in our house is, he will run and grab his Broncos coat to proudly show you. Then he will proceed to tell you that I bought him that coat at a garage sale (for 5 bucks! Woohoo!) during a Mama/Son date I took him on to Dunkin Donuts. He asks me every week when we’ll go on another date, just him and me. Kids might like presents in the short term, but it’s the memories and time spent together that last long term.

As morbid as it sounds, none of us know how long we have on earth. Sickness, tragedy, and death don’t pay attention to age, and I want to make my time on earth count while I still have it. This holiday season I will be more intentional with my gift giving, focusing more on the giving of my time and attention and less on finding “the perfect gift” because I already have the perfect gift–my time and the power to create lasting memories for my family, memories that will last longer than anything I could wrap and put under the tree. I encourage you to take this holiday season to do the same because I think we would all agree that we won’t look back on life and wish simply for more stuff; however, we will undoubtedly wish for more time.

How do you create memories by pouring time into your children’s lives? What have been some of your most cherished moments thus far?