My family is up at my parent’s house on Lake George.  It is one of my favorite places on the planet.  Good times with lots to be thankful for.  One of the common evening activities up here is to have a fire by the lake.  Several of us gather around and we sit and talk.  Fires on funny things.  You can just sit there and stare up them and the next thing you know 30 minutes has gone by.  You may have relaxed.  You may not have.  You may have thought and reflected or you just may have spaced out.  The time may have been valuable or it just may have gone by.   The conversations around the fire are the same way.  The talks can be stuff of consequence or can just be idle chatter.   30 minutes can go by of meaningful talk.  You can hear about people hurting or people or people in need.  Or the chats by the fire can just take up time (which can be ok if that refreshes you).  As I thought about this….isn’t this way each day of life can be.  It can be meaningful.  Or it can just go by.  You can get staring at life (like the fire) and in doing so miss a great deal of valuable time.  I need to be reminded of a principle the Bible teaches – make the most of every opportunity (even if that opportunity is one of rest and refueling).