Time is precious and we should use it wisely
June 24, 2007 (Sunday) – When we were young, our life stretched out endlessly before us. No end was in sight. Plenty of time. Plenty of time. As we grow older, we begin to realize that life is actually very short. Even those who are living past 100 have not been on this earth very long, when we compare the century with the thousands of years of human history.
It is vitally important that we realize the value of each hour. How will we use it? Once the hour passes, it is no longer available. Whatever we did is done. No tape rewind. No instant replay. One shot, that’s all.
Horace Mann wrote, ““Lost, yesterday, somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered, for they are gone forever.”
Benjamin Franklin wrote, “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time; for that’s the stuff life is made of.”
A Hindu prayer expresses the value of time: “Look to this day: for it is life, the very life of life. In its brief course lie all the verities and realities of your existence. The bliss of growth, the glory of action, the splendour of achievement are but experiences of time. For yesterday is but a dream and tomorrow is only a vision; and today well-lived, makes yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well therefore to this day; such is the salutation to the ever-new dawn.”
James in the New Testament calls out to us, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will (do this or that)..you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”
Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, seriously urges us, “Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”
An anonymous little poem, “Just A Tiny Little Minute,” expresses the value of every moment of life: “Just a tiny little minute, only sixty seconds in it, forced upon me, can’t refuse it, didn’t seek it, didn’t choose it, but it’s up to me to use it, give account if I abuse it. Just a tiny little minute, but eternity is in it.”
What will you do with your time today?