Time, Rest, Relationship...

The meeting started exactly at 1:00 pm as scheduled. The chairman made a few opening remarks and the participants took their time one after the other, not hurried but also not wasting time. There were four speeches. The chairman also shared a thought from experience, fitting to the occasion. There was a song and a recitation, both done very nicely. Then there was ‘vote of thanks’ during which refreshment was distributed to everyone. And so, in exactly 47 minutes, I came out of the function held today at Secretariat conference hall in observance of World No Tobacco Day (supposed to be tomorrow, 31^st May, but observed today because tomorrow is a Sunday). Time management was excellent.

 

The reason I kept track of the time was that I attended a jubilee program last winter which went on for 4 hours, and another church program recently which lasted 3 hours. Next time, I will think twice before going for a program in those places.

If I speak for half an hour too long in a program where 500 people attended, I have wasted a total of 250 hours (30 minutes per person) in those 30 minutes. 

Sunday is a day of rest for all people. Especially for people who work hard during the week, it is an important day of physical and mental rest. Therefore, it is not right that certain people should demand that we have very long church program and justify it by saying that we are giving just one day or few hours a week for God. Good work done on week days are also acts of worship. God rested on the 7^th day. And so, we must have a day of rest.

We need to have/make time for people. We should not count the minutes we spend with family or with people who need our time. I am glad to have friends who travel several miles just to meet and talk. We are busy making money that we don't have time for people. But relationship matters more than money, and relationships need our time.