A Time Granted

¹“And thus we see, that there was a time granted unto man to repent, yea, a probationary time, a time to repent and serve God.” (Alma 42:4). It is not just that God has set aside a portion of time long enough for us to learn how to repent and serve God, but that time itself has been granted to us in order that we might relent. In other words, linear time as we know it, with a definite beginning and ending that flows only in one direction, this kind of time is unique to our lives here on Earth. For God, all things are present before His eyes. He does not exist in time as we understand and experience it. If we did not have time, then we would not be able to learn and grow and make mistakes and repent because we would be experiencing every single moment of our lives simultaneously. We wouldn't have anything to regret because we would never experience the loss of moments that have passed, never to be reclaimed again. The whole notion of time being able to heal all wounds wouldn't exist because that sharp pain of a mistake would linger with us forever, never fading or healing. I am so grateful for the gift of time. We all wish we could turn back time to get another chance to fix our mistakes, but if we had not been granted time, our lives would be so much more complicated. I hope that at least some of the times that the inevitable and irreversible passage of time causes us pain, that this also prods us to not take this gift of time for granted. The less we allow ourselves to get lost in all of the things that time can't do, the more energy we will have to focus on the things we are able to do with our time and to use this precious gift to the fullest.