Do you need time?
Time flies. Everyone says that, and it’s true. Days blur into weeks, and sometimes I wonder where it all went. There are moments I catch myself whispering, I just need more time.
But then I remember two lines that have followed me for years. Tolkien once wrote, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” And Stephen Covey added, “The key is in not spending time, but in investing it.”
They both point to the same truth: time isn’t valuable because it’s scarce. It’s valuable because it’s purposeful.
There are seasons when everything feels urgent—emails, deadlines, conversations, crises. Time “flies” when we react to those things. But time “serves” when we slow down long enough to ask what this moment is for.
That’s why Tolkien’s words matter. They remind me that time is not something to survive but something to shape. There’s a purpose to it—a calling that, if recognised early and followed faithfully, will yield a deep return. Covey’s words sharpen that truth: when we invest time well, it creates futures. It shapes our character, our relationships, even our communities.
So perhaps I don’t need more time.
What I need is clearer purpose—
to live each day not as something slipping away,
but as something unfolding toward what I’m called to do.
The Afterword 
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