It is said, time is constant-by the second. Is that true? What about when one is in the dentist’s chair waiting to remove those abscessed teeth? Or in the delivery room, time seems to slow to a crawl. From childhood, nearly every mortal is encouraged, even cajoled or coerced, with few exceptions, to think long-term. Save your money for a rainy day. Keep your grades up in school so one can attend university. Snag a job with long term benefits-chance for advancement. Stable advice. And, at the right time, find the mate; till death do we part. Think long haul. Many friendships, once developed, last a lifetime. Other events are short-term. Internships. Diets. Summer jobs. Puppy love. Adolescent acne.
Politicians intuitively think of time in two, four or six years terms. Attorneys bill by the hour. But pregnancy, no matter how many people you put on the job, usually takes about nine months. In Wyoming legislators are considered, appropriately, as citizen legislators, not full-time. Most elected, have careers or other jobs that pay the bills. Similar to our Founders, who, back then, were glad to get out of D.C., and get back home to family and sanity. At the federal level today, legislators are so comfy, well compensated, and entrenched in Senate or Congress, the only way to pry one out of that seat, is when the pall bearers arrive, like Robert C. Byrd, Democrat from W.VA., served over 51 years in the Senate. Some enter as average citizens, and leave as multi-millionaires, with their hand in everyone’s pockets, especially ours. It’s a cozy self-serving world for politicians with careerist impulses.
As a rough estimate, we’re granted 315,360,000 seconds in 365 days. Few of us think in terms of seconds, unless one participates in sporting events, where a tenth of a second could be the difference of a new world record. Neuro-thinkers, ponder question like, “Can one stop one’s mind for ten seconds, and how do we know?” Most are captive to conventional thinking relative to time. Time is a taskmaster. It takes charge of us, and we rarely get the reigns back. We have daily planners, weekly meetings, monthly goals, monthly mortgage, and annual reviews as an employee-neatly organized on our iPhone. Clean the house and shop once a week. Work daily for years. Our existence is primarily a quotidian venture. Days run into weeks; weeks into months; and months into years, ad nauseam. French novelist/poet Victor Hugo’s words of warning, “Short as life is, we make it shorter by the careless waste of time.”
Your’s truly is convinced that God alone grants us so many days on this revolving orb. Those who place their reliance upon the Lord, who’ve walked with Him for any length of time, understand He doesn’t want us to count those seconds. Rather, He wants us to make the seconds count. Have you ever pondered how many seconds are wasted each day? Ironic, how often has one confessed to “waisting a week-end?” Nothing wrong with needful respites. It mustn’t be a lifestyle. Some squander a life with layabout habits. What could be more grievous than having etched on one’s headstone, “He/she loitered through life?” Some pretend to be busy, but are left empty-handed. Pretense, pomposity, and inanity, in the end, dupes only the pretender, the pompous and inane.
Some protest, “No talent!” It’s not a matter of talent. Few possess the lofty lyrical talent, or prolific pen of Dante, Eliot, Faulkner or Longfellow. Or the gift of an inventor’s mind like Edison or medical pioneer Dr. Jonas Salk. However, that shouldn’t hinder one’s pursuit to capture their sphere of influence using God-given resources we possess. It will demand a conscious determined decision to make every second count. Consider, as split second decision may alter one’s life-or save another’s. Few of us know at that moment what shadow it may cast into the future. How many lament that they hadn’t spent a few more seconds with a loved one who has now crossed over Jordan?
What will it require of us? How much time? How much effort? What will it interrupt? One must exhibit a determined resolve to resist the substantial mirage of chasing the ethereal at any cost, revealing the ever present enmity between our innate self-serving tendency, but responding to a higher calling. Thirty seconds to text or tweet one you’ve sorely missed. How many seconds, minutes, or days have ticked away since that worthy project you vowed to finish someday, is now a faded memory? A short poignant poem, attributed to Ben Franklin, “Mr. Meant-To” says, “Mr. Meant-To” has a comrade, and his name is Didn’t Do: Have you ever chanced to meet them? Did they ever call on you?” It concludes, “Don’t be haunted by the ghost of Might-Have-Been.” Endless opportunities are a mirage. More debilitating and pervasive than physical loitering is eternal loitering. Cobwebs of the Soul. Admittedly, it’s not an easy task escaping the shackles of banality and convention. Insouciance is no ally.
German philosopher Von Goethe, captured the essence of loitering, with a warning label, “Lose the day loitering, twill be the same tomorrow, and the rest more dilatory.” How many of us loiter as we “lounge” in church? Catering to our own interest, with minds fixed on ignoble, earthy things. The seconds tick away. One has no idea if this will be their last second. Why do we find it morbid to contemplate one’s final moments or eternal destiny? Ignoring the obvious that God has set in our souls.
Lamenting must take wings. The ebb and flow of life waits for no one. Many have carved their niche’. Serve as an incorruptible politician. Defend the unborn, widows, orphans, advance individual virtuous Liberty, or other noble cause. Cast a lifeline to the helpless. Storm the gates of heaven with a prayer partner, leaving an indelible mark on a solitary life. Set forth your case for the Gospel before a skeptical watching world.
Taken seriously, Psalm 39:4 can alter one’s perspective on time, “Show me Lord life’s end and the number of my days, let me know how fleeting my life is.” In these portending days ahead-redeem the time wisely-make every second count. What do you think?
Mike Pyatt’s a Natrona County resident, and Founding member of Liberty’sPlace4UWY.com His email’s mikepyatt44@gmail.com
