Why, hello there, June! Although it feels like 2025 just started a couple weeks ago, the summer season is already almost officially here with the end of school in a couple days and the summer solstice a few weeks away. There’s something exciting about the longer summer days. Even though we don’t actually gain time, the extra daylight hours make it feel as if there is more time in each day. And, in a season of life where there’s seemingly never enough time, summer feels like a much-needed time bonus.

My seven-year-old is currently fascinated by the passage of time. “Where does time go?” she’ll muse. She’ll wander into the kitchen and observe the digital clock on the stove before exclaiming, “Wow! It’s already been a minute since I walked into the kitchen. Time sure passes quickly. It was just morning, now it’s already afternoon and soon it’ll be night!” That pretty much sums up my day. It was morning, then suddenly afternoon, and a brief moment later, nighttime.

I’ve written about time on several occasions, Time to Be, Five Minutes at a Time, Enjoy the Small Moments, Welcome to the Moment, Pursuing the Opportunity of Time, A Season of Slow Down, Slowing Down to Grow…wow, it’s like there’s a theme in my life. So, at the risk of repeating myself, I decided to write about time, yet again.

It’s easy to complain about never having enough time (unless, of course, you’re under 10 years old and boredom is a very real threat to your very existence). There’s no shortage of ideas and suggestions for how to maximize, prioritize, make better use of, or live unconstrained by time. Clearly, the concept of how to best utilize this valuable resource is a very relevant topic. Several weeks before working on this post, I began the process of mapping out my family’s summer schedule. There is no shortage of fun activities that we are attempting to squeeze into the precious few weeks we label “summer break.” The calendar is full of travel, family gatherings, and friend visits, not to mention goals for daily gardening and frequent bike outings. Watching the calendar fill with plans caused a blur of anxiety about the limited amount of time in which to cram it all in. I often get stuck in the time-scarcity mindset. I also often forget to appreciate time for what it is: a gift.

Maybe that’s what it comes down to for me: appreciating time in and of itself as a gift, regardless of how my day is spent. Maybe this appreciation could be incorporated by starting each morning with gratitude for the gift of another day’s time. Of course, this perspective requires a slight mindset shift for me. I have a tendency to either fixate on how I spend my time, and getting frustrated when my use of time doesn’t actually reflect my priorities, or, in my perpetual quest for increased self-awareness, I get caught up in an intense pressure to be present and soak up every moment, rather than allowing a gentler grace to accompany me through the gift of each moment in time. Similar to Henri Nouwen’s emphasis on viewing time as the Greek word kairos, opportunity, viewing each day’s time as a gift allows for grace regardless of how the day unfolds. This awareness opens me up to moments, for example gardening, writing, or laughing while playing a game with my family, where time facilitates life experiences, rather than life experiences trying to squeeze every valuable drop from each passing minute. Embracing the value of each day’s time for the gift that it is and allowing this perspective to infuse each day, regardless of how it is spent, will be a lifelong journey.

This awareness, recognizing time as a gift, opens me up to moments where time facilitates life experiences, rather than life experiences trying to squeeze every valuable drop from each passing minute.

Of course, I am still very much in the middle of this journey. This weekend, I tied this piece into what feels like a brief post of insightful self-awareness. Shortly, the typical weekday afternoon rush will arrive and I’ll incredulously notice the clock is already displaying 3:00pm. I’ll attempt to complete three tasks at once (none well) before jumping in my car to pick up my son from school and rushing home to fix supper while also tackling chores leftover from the busy morning and simultaneously doing my best to soak in moments with my family. Most likely, during this mad dash I will not contemplate the gift of time, it probably won’t even occur to me to consider this until the next day. Despite my writing about how my awareness has increased on this topic, more often than not, on a typical day I will literally run from one minute to the next, squeezing as much as possible from each 60 seconds before it fades into the next hour, often doing my best to be present but not always recognizing the gift that allows my day to be filled with activity. So, I’m still deeply in beginner mode. Still actively attempting to “practice what I preach.” Still learning and relearning every day.

As the longer days of summer eventually stretch into the shorter days of fall, I hope to continue to live each day with appreciation for the gift that time provides for schedules and flexibility, to-do lists and joy-driven activities, making the most of each day and being present throughout. And no matter the season, I hope to continue to grow in my awareness of and appreciation for the truly immeasurable gift of time.

Wendi is co-author of The Unexpected Ever Afters blog and enjoys sipping extra hot coffee, sharing a love of reading with her kids, and exploring bike trails.

photo credit: personal photos