By Ife J. Ibitayo
Last week a good friend of mine dropped by my apartment on his way to the airport. I hadn’t seen him in years, and the joy of reconnecting, even just for a few minutes, flooded my heart with joy. But I almost didn’t make time to see him. I’d gone to bed late and woken up early, and my day was already jampacked with a laundry list of activities—including literal laundry. Did it really make sense to carve out precious time to see him? Couldn’t we just catch up over the phone? That mindset has dominated my thought process this new year. 2023 will be the year I launch my company, finish my novel, and ace my MBA classes. So what if a couple minor things slip like friendship and laughter?
Make Time for Friendship
But the Word says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor” (Ecclesiastes 4:9). Common business school wisdom teaches you that “it’s lonely at the top.” If you want to reach the top of your company, the summit of your industry, or the pinnacle of your personal success ladder, you’ll have to sacrifice people along the way. But if we leave in our a wake a graveyard of malnourished relationships, we’ll come to appreciate just how hollow “victory” can really feel.
Make Time for Enjoyment
Many people I know believe that enjoyment is a luxury that must be deferred. They’ll work hard now as an overworked cog in the corporate machine then play hard as an early retiree. But the Bible contains a parable that speaks directly to this sentiment: “There is one alone, without companion: He has neither son nor brother. Yet there is no end to all his labors, nor is his eye satisfied with riches. But he never asks, ‘For whom do I toil and deprive myself of good?’ This also is vanity and a grave misfortune” (Ecclesiastes 4:8).
My life has a way of filling itself up. Bouncing from one cycle of business to another can be all to easy in our fast-paced, work-glorifying culture. If we don’t take time to enjoy now before the “days of trouble come” (Ecclesiastes 12:1), we may let the sweetest seasons of our life pass us by.
Conclusion
Years come and resolutions go. We may not accomplish all we set out to in this shiny new year of 2023. But if we make time for our loved ones and share a couple laughs along the way, we may have just stumbled upon what we should have resolved to do anyway.
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”
(Ecclesiastes 3:1)