Is This A Smile Or A Grimace ?: Tempus Fugit

Do Not Squander Time

That is The Stuff Life is Made Of

is on the sign outside Twelve Oaks, the Wilkes plantation in the film Gone With The Wind.

Time really does fly and it never ceases to amaze me how precious some moments in our lives are and yet we so often find ourselves dashing around and not making the most of the time we have available.

We've just watched the latest episode of Dr Who which is of course about a Time Lord. He has the opportunity to visit and re-visit particular times and the people within those times.

It's also Easter Sunday and my eldest daughter is 5 in less than one month and my youngest has just had her first Easter while the middle one Sophie is 2 and is referring to Easter Babbits and is hugging the box the egg is in with no effort yet at getting into the egg.

Every Sunday I have a few precious moments alone, just thinking and spending time in prayer and considering what the day holds, before I have to get up and get ready and get each one of my 3 children ready. It's no mean feat getting 3 children under the age of 5 ready for church as many parents will be able to confirm and invariably we tend to run out of time. I could lose my rag and get stressed out about the fact that we are always running late and it really does wind me up. No amount of preparation appears to help either, which is most frustrating but I would rather have great and precious memories of fun with my children that we share together, rather than stressing about being late.

Lara and I sing and dance and laugh and Sophie is now at the age where she wants to join in and she does a kind of funny little wiggle.

The time that we are in now is so precious and fun memories can be made in this time here and now.

I think it's good to slow down and enjoy the moment before it rushes past.

There's a great Star Trek - Next Generation movie called Insurrection in which there is a world where it's possible to freeze a moment in time or slow it down so much that it gives you the opportunity to really enjoy and treasure the moment.

Which moments would you freeze or slow down to treasure?

It really is amazing to me how fast the time in my life has flown. Just as an example, here are 6 photographs each taken over the last 5 years as an example of how quick things and people change: