Treadmill of Life

As I ran outside this morning in cool rainy conditions I was grateful for the cooler air. Grateful to be outside running again, instead of inside on a treadmill under fluorescent lights. Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful for the treadmill even under fluorescent lights when the mornings are hot and humid AND I am looking forward to cooler days. 

As I ran on the pavement I thought about time as a treadmill for our lives. Running on pavement, if you stop, you stop. The pavement does not move out from under you. On a treadmill if you stop, you get thrown off the treadmill and possibly injured. Unless the emergency stop is activated the treadmill keeps running, so does time, if you believe time is only linear (that’s another topic for another poem). No matter what we do time does not stop unwinding and moving forward.

How are you relating to the treadmill of time constantly moving in the background of your life?

Time runs along

And is quickly gone,

Forever.

There is no going back,

No playing slack,

No getting the day, or the hour, back.

We have a choice

To stand still

And watch time pass,

Until there is no more

Feeling regret for

Deeds left undone,

Songs left unsung.

Or we can choose

To use

The time we have to grow;

To develop a life of integrity and sow

Truth seeds.

Plant deeds

Of honesty and compassion

Fertilized with kindness and a passion

For showing ourselves and others a way 

Of participation

So at the end there is no regret

Only celebration

Of time well used 

And a life infused

With depth and purpose 

Not just surface

A disservice 

To time.