You Don't Have as Much Time as You Think

One Day the Last Grain Falls

THE MOST IMPORTANT lesson I’ve learned in life is the value of time. It’s precious beyond measure because it’s irretrievable once it runs out.

The image of an hourglass helps me contemplate the preciousness of time, each second of which is like a grain of sand passing from the top to the bottom, never to return, never to be repeated.

A long time ago, I wrote a little reflection called “How I Pray Now,” in which I consider the significance of time, especially given how much of it I’ve wasted in my life.

I find that my mental prayer at the end of the day is when I am best able to focus my mind and heart. I survey the day and its contents and speak to the Lord about how I think it went. And I ask Him how He thinks it went. And I pray:

“I know you’ve given me a limited number of days on this earth, Lord. Please help me make the best use of them I can. And please forgive me for the countless times I’ve squandered and misspent time You’ve given me.”

Time is what I pray about most. The older I get, the more I appreciate the preciousness of time. I know I only have so much of it allotted to me, and there are no reruns. I have to be busy attending to my Father’s work before the sand in my particular hourglass runs out. So Lord, I pray, please keep me focused.

It’s weird. The truth that our own individual hourglass of life contains only so many grains of sand is something we all know. In other words, our mortality is real. At some point, sooner or later, each of us will die and depart this earthly life for the eternal life to come. And yet most of us (I have been guilty of this often enough) tend to ignore this reality, assuming we have plenty of life ahead.

“I’ll get around to that someday,” we tell ourselves.

“There’s plenty of time to fix that, or reconcile with him, or repair the damage I did there,” we rationalize.

“Sure, I want to be holy! And eventually I will because, hey, there’s plenty of time for that down the road, but I’m not quite ready yet.”

Or, as St. Augustine put it so bluntly and honestly:

“I was afraid that You would hear me too soon, and cure me too soon of the disease of lust, which I wanted satisfied rather than extinguished. . . . I said, ‘Give me chastity and continence, but not yet.’ For I was afraid that You would hear me too soon, and heal me at once of the sickness of concupiscence, which I preferred to satisfy rather than suppress.”

Confessions, VIII.7.17 (Henry Chadwick trans.)

Terms like “eventually,” “someday,” and “in the future” are like little drips and drops of self-administered anesthesia, dulling the sense of urgency we should all have when it comes to making the most of our opportunities to live a life pleasing to God so that we’ll be ready when the time comes to offer it all back to him, for better or for worse.

Time in this life is like wet cement. It hasn’t set yet. It’s still malleable, so you can shape it, mold it, and make handprints in it. But when the cement dries and hardens, you can no longer change it.

Passing from time into eternity, when that last grain of sand falls from the top of the hourglass of your life into the bottom (Heaven or Hell for all eternity), the opportunity to change, forgive, repent, etc. will have passed you by forever.

Even those who, tragically, refuse God’s love and die unrepentant in that state (the Bible calls that horrifying condition ‘mortal sin’ [cf. 1 John 5:16–17]), will continue to exist for all eternity, though separated forever from the God Who loves them but Who also respects their freedom to say ‘no’ to Him.

So you have to ask yourself one question: “Do I feel lucky?”

Providentially, luck has nothing to do with it.

“Take delight in the Lord,” Scripture says, “and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act. He will bring forth your vindication as the light, and your right as the noonday” (Psalm 37:4–6).

“Woulda, coulda, shoulda.” Isn’t it true that many people find themselves saying those words near the end of their lives as they look back and survey all the lost opportunities they let slip away to be good, loving, forgiving, compassionate, faithful, honorable, selfless, and kind? But by then, it’s too late.

That haunting line from the has-been prizefighter in On the Waterfront reminds me of those who let their lives slip by without making the most of it for God’s sake and then find themselves forever separated from the winner’s circle in Heaven:

“I could’ve had class. I could have been a contender. I could’ve been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am. Let’s face it.”

Now, if I’ve learned anything in the last 65 years, I’ve learned that I absolutely do not want to reach the end of my earthly life, the end of Part I of my own personal never-ending story, filled with regrets for what I woulda, coulda, and shoulda done in response to God’s love. Rather, I want to be ready for the day the Lord calls me to come unto him.

I want Him to find me, when the time comes, not like Adam in the Garden, naked and afraid, fearful of the punishment that awaits but rather loving Him and loving others for His sake, whatever form the latter might take.

Imperfectly, yes, for surely everything I’ve done in my life has been at best imperfect, much of it far worse. But I’m learning! I’m learning how precious time is, how quickly it goes by, and how little we value it until it’s gone. And how much I can do with it, or rather, how much God can do with it in me, if only I allow it.

Everything else is just bits of fluff and flotsam, flying away from me in the winds of time.

Or as St. Teresa of Avila put it:

Let nothing disturb you,

Let nothing frighten you,

All things are passing away:

God never changes.

Patience obtains all things

Whoever has God lacks nothing;

God alone suffices.

This, then, is the final lesson, in terms of our earthly life. Even if you and I learn all the other lessons I’ve shared in my books and articles, and a million more besides, none of it will matter if we don’t learn and live the lesson of the hourglass. As St. Paul says: “It is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). After that comes heaven or hell. For all eternity.

For those who learn the lesson well, that’s when the glorious Part II of the never-ending story commences.

“Therefore it is said,

‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead,

and Christ shall give you light.’

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:14–17).

The sand of time is running out, little by little. Inexorably.

In due time, sooner or later, this earthly life will end and you and I will have to give an account of our lives to God. Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that He gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

That kind of story, the eternal life version, will never end because the good God Who created us and everything else out of pure love has an eternity of happiness waiting for those who love Him and seek Him with all their heart, mind, and strength.

Even if, in the past, you strayed far from Him and lived wickedly, His grace can bring you to repentance and restore you to Him. There is nothing to fear for those who love Him. Rather, it is the cause of our joy, for it means that one day, when the last grain of sand falls, it will be graduation day! School’s out forever! Endless summer!

And you will be happy with God and His angels and saints forever in Heaven. Amen.

---

Copyright © 2026 Patrick Madrid. All rights reserved. Adapted from the chapter “The Hourglass” in my book Life Lessons. All text, images, and other original content are the property of the author.

I hope you enjoy my articles here. If so, please tap the Share button above to post any of them on X or Instagram or to send it to someone who might be interested in it. And if you enjoy thoughtful, friendly, faith related content, you’ll appreciate my daily program on Relevant Radio. Listen here or get the free Relevant Radio app.

Join me on a pilgrimage to Greece and Italy in the footsteps of Saints Peter & Paul, October 4 - 15, 2026.