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The question comes up from time to time. What is the one gift, above all other gifts, that you would give to another this holiday season?

I know what I would give if it were in my power; the gift of time.

For parents, I would give the gift of time to spend at the end of the day, in leisure and with each child just before bedtime, wrapping up the small tidbits of the day.

For children, I would give the gift of time to spend in dreaming.

For mothers, I would give the gift of time to spend in shopping, until you drop; read until your eyes are weary; and laughing yourself silly with a good friend.

For fathers, I would give the gift of time to find yourself; be yourself and learn to share it with others.

For adolescents, I would give the gift of time to be spent in exploring the ever-nagging question of why life? Why not life?

For young adults, I would give the gift of time to think about all that pushes them forward so fast that nothing seems to have meaning at times.

For seniors, I would give the gift of time to be more active in schools, churches and government and share the wisdom that only comes with experience.

For every individual I would give the gift of time to visit art galleries, libraries, museums, small towns and rural communities; to soak in our past and understand the part that each of us play in keeping it alive for the future.

I would give the gift of time to rise early and see the cheek of morning blush crimson in the awakening of a new day; to stay up late and watch the moon, a bent elbow resting on the cushion of a blue couch of night. I would give the gift of time to walk along the river bank on a crisp winter day, listen to the clicking of birds, honking of geese, the stillness of water running deep.

Time is not mine to give. It seems however that time is really the only thing that we do have at any given moment to spend as we choose.

I am reminded of something someone told me once, that all that we do, have done and are doing, is a result of choices; choices that we have made and are making every day of our lives.

Why life, the young college student asks. Why not life, I answered her; and the time to live it in the rising of the sun, the setting of moon, honking of geese and water running deep.

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