Pay It Forward

From April: This is a guest post from Rebekah Gonzales, Toni’s daughter. Rebekah is only 16, however, I found her writing to be wise beyond her years and am proud that she is posting here today. You can find other posts from Rebekah on her blog, Born Vintage, where she writes bringing back all things vintage. You should check it out! 

“Let each generation tell its children of Your mighty acts;
let them proclaim Your power.”  ~ Psalm 145:4

Hello! My name is Bekah, and I blog over at Born Vintage, where I record my try at bringing vintage back. I’m constantly on the search for inspiration, often finding it in the smallest, most simple, and often very old things. My newest source of inspiration is a picture I found showing a family from the 60′s. The father is reading a book to his small children, sitting at his feet as still as could be. The mother watches her little family bond in the room she had neatly prepared for the occasion. Now, I know this isn’t exactly realistic (I mean is it physically possible to clean a whole house and bake a full dinner in high heels and pearls?), but I am so enchanted with the idea it portrays. They sit together as though the whole day had led up to this moment. Though every family has special moments, none are like this 24/7. Truthfully, with the busyness of today’s culture, there is hardly enough time for a decent family meal sometimes!

Now I may be only a teenager, inexperienced and ignorant as to how hard raising a family really is, but I do know one thing: time is precious and there isn’t much of it. Actually, it’s passing as I write. My pastor sometimes says, “It’s amazing what people would rather have than money”, and I think that  time can be the same way. Have you noticed we all use the phrase “spending time” without even realizing what we’re really saying? Just like money, we can spend time, we can waste time, and we can even invest time. The only thing we can do with money that we can’t do with time – is save it. It will continue to tick away no matter how hard we try to stop it.

So back to the picture. Fast forward the family 30 years or so. Do you see what I see? The parents are still together, with good relationships with their children who are now gathering to read stories with children of their own. They have few regrets, because they knew the value of their time and thus invested it wisely. Not that they were always picture perfect, but I’d like to think they spent their time on things that would last. And what stops us from doing the same? I catch myself all the time saying things like, “When I get older…” and “I can’t wait to…” but I don’t really need to wait. There is so much I could be doing right now, at sixteen, that will prove useful later. I am trying to prepare myself for the tasks I know will soon fall to me by cooking for my family and helping to teach my younger sisters.  I have my life, my “money”, to spend however I will, and from now on I hope to invest it well. So no matter your age, whether a parent or child, or even if you’ve graduated from parenthood and you’re to the baby-spoiling phase, you can still invest your time.  Everyone around you values attention. Pull out your time wallet and pay up!