precious time

don't waste one minute
when you are around people

one day they probably won't be there anymore
one day all the influence you had on them will prove itself
one day they will be too far away to hear your words

and then...
then everything hangs upon what you did
while you were still together

see this weekend i got to spend time with people back home
i was so busy!
because there was always somebody to be doing something with

certainly i had to make time to be alone
to be by myself

but this past week i realized that...
i have been friends with (and even simply known)
so many people.

what did that matter?

it's interesting to see who i've had an impact on and who i haven't

i've been thinking about how...
there were all those people
and now they're out there on their own
like i was their parent, and now they're grown up
only... not a parent
but a friend

i'm not there anymore to tell them if something's wrong.
the thing that kills me most i think
is how i'm not there to encourage them

i can go home for the weekend
and talk to people there
but now i'm back at school

clearly this is where God wants me at
and i'm okay with that
but i still love the people i've...
left behind or parted from

and i miss them
(or depending on who you are)
i miss you

i wanted to go to the student leadership meeting
to tell them the things i think should be fixed
to laugh with them
to encourage them

but it's not...
my youth group anymore

it's hard to let go of

same thing with single friends

i got to spend some time with...
my brother, for example
and i can love him
and have fun with him
and encourage him

but now...
i'm not there with him anymore

when i go to.. church for example
i feel like I'm on a mission
to find certain people that i know
and talk to them
see what's going on with them

i spent some time with one person in particular
and it was nice
i hope it helped
But...

here i am
at school

then there are my friends who have also left home
who have dispersed across the state and country
i love them
but i hardly get to see them now

ANYWAYS

what i'm getting at
is...

what did i mean to those people?

because...
now the influence i have on them is so limited
i'm not there every day, every week

and it's not that at some point i controlled their lives
like some overprotective parent

but God used me to do something in those people

did i use my time wisely?

how much more could God have done with me if i realized how precious my time with them was?

people and friends aren't just problems to solve
"things" to "work on"

don't get the wrong idea

it's just that...
i sort of realized what it's like to be... a parent
what it's like to see the people that you invested so much in...
on their own

they have to make their own mistakes
figure things out without me there

everyone is quite capable of that ^_^
i don't claim to be mr. fix-it

but i wish i could be there to help everybody along

and i can't be

time is up

Do I,
Do you
love people
like time is running out?