I was thumbing through a book called the Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman this week. A friend suggested I read it so I bought a copy and thought I'd give it a try. I am not a fan of the self help genre usually.
As I flipped through the book a page of a chapter caught my eye. Quality Time. Reading further I came upon the statement, "...we are giving each other twenty minutes of life. We will never have those twenty minutes again; we are giving our lives to each other. It is a powerful emotional communicator of love."
That statement got me thinking.
I have friends that I don't get to spend a lot of time with for a number of reasons. Dear friends, valued friends, friends I love. My life, my family, take most of my time and don't allow me as much time with some that I'd like.
So I started to think of quality time. I remarked to a special friend recently that we do an awful lot with what little time we have. We squeeze so much into each conversation, cram in so many thoughts and feelings into a very short space of time. We have to, it's unavoidable. Reading that statement I realized that in that short expanse of time ... I am giving my life.
I think when you don't have a lot of opportunity to spend time with someone, someone you would very much like to spend a lot of your time with, you create an atmosphere that concentrates on what is important to both of you. Focus narrows, each word spoken important, each thought conveyed with sincerity. Small talk is pushed aside for deep conversation. Care is taken to make sure the other understands their importance, their place in your life.
Committing to friendship, investing emotionally in another person is, in fact, giving of ones life. In opening up, sharing and becoming involved personally with another we give from our lives. We give a precious part of ourselves, a small piece of a life lived.
How nice when the other person returns this in full measure.
Then it really is Quality Time.
Indeed.
As I flipped through the book a page of a chapter caught my eye. Quality Time. Reading further I came upon the statement, "...we are giving each other twenty minutes of life. We will never have those twenty minutes again; we are giving our lives to each other. It is a powerful emotional communicator of love."
That statement got me thinking.
I have friends that I don't get to spend a lot of time with for a number of reasons. Dear friends, valued friends, friends I love. My life, my family, take most of my time and don't allow me as much time with some that I'd like.
So I started to think of quality time. I remarked to a special friend recently that we do an awful lot with what little time we have. We squeeze so much into each conversation, cram in so many thoughts and feelings into a very short space of time. We have to, it's unavoidable. Reading that statement I realized that in that short expanse of time ... I am giving my life.
I think when you don't have a lot of opportunity to spend time with someone, someone you would very much like to spend a lot of your time with, you create an atmosphere that concentrates on what is important to both of you. Focus narrows, each word spoken important, each thought conveyed with sincerity. Small talk is pushed aside for deep conversation. Care is taken to make sure the other understands their importance, their place in your life.
Committing to friendship, investing emotionally in another person is, in fact, giving of ones life. In opening up, sharing and becoming involved personally with another we give from our lives. We give a precious part of ourselves, a small piece of a life lived.
How nice when the other person returns this in full measure.
Then it really is Quality Time.
Indeed.
No comments:
Post a Comment