Time is a precious gift that we are all given. Time actually is a currency. We have 24 hours in our bank account every day. How we spend and budget our time is up to us and no one else. The thing about the 24 hours, is that you have to spend every bit of the hours in your account before the end of the day. Then you get more time deposited at 12am.

Most of us spend at least eight of those hours at work. Another eight hours are spent sleeping or laying in bed, which leaves another eight hours to spend. Some of that time is spend commuting. So what do you do with what’s left over? How do you spend the time?

It got me to thinking what is the motivations behind me spending time working and commuting. What is the motivation behind me hitting the daily grind? Is it to make money? Is it to find purpose and meaning?

In Batman Begins, Rachel Dawes tells Bruce Wayne that, “It’s not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you.” At first glance, that is how most Americans see themselves. They need a position, a job, power, and that will define them. However, underneath, the quote is much deeper.

Yes you have a job, maybe you have won awards. You may be powerful in the bubble in which you live, but it’s what you do with what you have been given that defines you. It boils down to integrity, what you are doing when no one else is paying attention.

I have realized that my motivations for having a career have changed. Of course I want to do what I enjoy, but where do I draw most of my happiness? It’s in my home life and personal life. I do what I do for my wife, and to have freedoms to do what I enjoy and minister to those around me. I work hard so one day I can live like nobody else and give more of myself to my wife, family, and to give more.

Time is a valuable resource that I have to use. The time will soon be gone, it’s what I do with the time that I have been given that defines me.

Chris Rice "Life Means So Much"