In my consulting work, I often encourage visual people (you know who you are) to create images, symbols, or objects that represent something important to them and place them somewhere that they will clearly be on their mind often.

I was practicing a little preaching last week.

My oldest son, Caleb, will be driving on his own in just under a month. Teaching my oldest to drive and anticipating how quickly my time with him day to day is fading, I set up a tangible reminder of the time I have left with my kids. I bought 4 glass jars and filled each jar with a different color glass gem (Caleb – blue, Josh – orange, Riley – pink, and Seth – green). Each glass gem represents one week in their lives before they go to college. [yes I am assuming they will go to college...]

Each week I take a gem out of each jar and throw it away in the trashcan. I was looking for a clear reminder for me about how short the time was that we have as a family.

The funny thing is that I am not afraid of the passage of time. I don’t sit around wishing that it would slow. I am happy for my children to move on to new and exciting areas of responsibility and ownership of their own lives. I don’t look at people with younger children and think, “I miss those days.”

At the same time I do like markers, placeholders, and things that force me to count things. In this, my one and only life, I won’t get time with my children back. I know on the other side of eternity I will have countless hours. On this side, my time is limited and finite. I want to make the most of every week.

Someday, Elise and I will be home alone wondering where days, weeks, months, and years went. I want to look back and realize we used the time as best we could. I am sure we will be thrown some loops and things that we won’t enjoy or expect. But I hope we will look back contented that we used the time well.