Time Marches? No, it Sprints!

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By Dana Mentink

“We are not the father of time. We are the children of time.” – Ilya Prigogine, Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, 1977

Did you ever notice how the older we get the faster time goes? Seriously. Sometimes I think time is not marching but galloping! Now I know what you’re thinking. Nobody has enough time, Dana. Get real. We’re all working, parenting, fellowshipping, serving on church committees, tending to life’s daily tasks, etc. True enough, but I have come to the uncomfortable realization that I sometimes fill my life with so much business I don’t have time to think. I don’t mean time to plot, write a synopsis and the like, I mean time to really think about what moves me, bothers me, alters the world around me at any given moment. Yes, I make time for my morning devotional, but then I’m off like a scalded cat, running willy nilly with no time for reflection. Are my tasks important? Probably. Are they as important as sitting down and really thinking about my purpose and passion in God’s world? Nope.

It stands to reason that if I don’t take the time to listen to the tides of life go by, those tides will not wash over my writing and make it all that it could be. Maybe they will be entertaining stories with plots that engage, but will they really move people? If I made more time in my day and in my life to think, what would I hear? A strong call to move in a direction I haven’t contemplated? A revelation that someone nearby needs me? I only hope that I can step off the endlessly spinning wheel I have created for myself long enough to give it a try.

“Man is born broken. He lives by mending. The grace of God is glue.” -Eugene O’Neill, Nobel Prize for Literature, 1936

Dana Mentink 3Dana Mentink got her start writing cozy mysteries for Barbour Books. Currently, she writes for Harlequin’s Love Inspired Suspense where her books have earned a Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award, a Holt Medallion Merit Award and a Carol Award. She’s also thrilled to be writing for Harlequin’s Heartwarming line and Moody’s River North. Visit her at danamentink.com.

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