Time may be accurately recorded and tracked by a good watch and calendar, but regardless of how often we refer to these tools of our civilization, time will still elude us. I recall as a young boy how it seemed to take forever to get through a period of time, whether it was 10 minutes or two hours, if something good was supposed to happen at the end of that time. Sitting in an elementary school class on a hot afternoon, thinking about the fun things waiting for me when school was out, made the time creep by at an almost unbearable pace. Or, when we were competing to see who could hold our breath under water the longest, while in the local swimming pool, a minute seemed an eternity. But, when we were playing games and having fun, time had wings and seemed to fly.
Now as an old man, hours, days and weeks seem to have wings; they fly by as if I were in a centrifuge cockpit with the world fly- ing by at an unseemly pace and me feeling like, at any moment, I’m going to be whirled into space. After all, most centrifuges are designed to separate heavier objects from lighter ones. There are mornings I get up and say to my wife, “Today is Tuesday and after a moment of thought, I’ll add ‘Wasn’t yesterday Tuesday’?” What happened to the six days in between? Not only is time elusive but the routine chores we do as well; they somehow get done, but we don’t always remember doing them. Routine things are done almost zombie-like, regardless of the time they took to do them. Dr. Elta Phister writes:
“I have only just a minute, Just sixty seconds in it; Forced upon me–can’t refuse it, Didn’t seek it, didn’t choose it.
I must suffer if I lose it, Give account if I abuse it, Just a tiny little minute But eternity is in it.”
I read an excerpt from a paper the other day where the subject was the ‘Value of Time.” It stated that: “To realize the value of one minute: Ask the person who has just missed the bus, train or plane. To realize the value of a second: Ask the person who has survived an accident. To realize the value of one millisecond: Ask the person who has won a silver medal in the Olympics.” In our social conversations we sometimes use the term ‘a split-second,’ even when we may just be referring to someone doing something faster than usual. But in the Olympics the difference between the Gold Medal and the Silver may in fact be as little as 1/20th of a second or even less. That is, in reality, a split-second.
Alex Green, one of my favorite satirists quipped, “A grilled ham and cheese on rye disappeared right before my eyes, it was in front of me when I flipped on the TV to watch the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows. But just a few minutes later it had vanished. True, there were a few crumbs on my shirt. And my wife detected the faint smell of Dijon mustard on my breath…Apparently, I hadn’t eaten the sandwich. I had inhaled it.” We often eat while our minds are preoccupied with other things and an hour later, if someone asked us what we had for supper, we would have to retrace our ‘event clock’ to bring to mind what it was that had sat on our plates during supper time, while we were thinking about something else.
I recently wrote my biography, I prefer to call it my Bio-epic, defined as; “very imposing or impressive; surpassing the ordinary.” The reason for the flashy title, ‘Epic,’ is that such a title is motivational. If you don’t feel that your life was impressive then you may find very little energy to write. From my very first remembrance to the present time I realized that I have had a long and fulfilling life. Yet, here I am in my 78th year, and many of my childhood experiences seemed as though they were yesterday. Time’s elusive nature is emphasized as we write about the events of significance in our lives.
Benjamin Franklin said, “If time be of all things most precious, wasting time must be the greatest prodigality, since lost time is never found again; and what we call time enough always proves little enough.” My many years, seem now, as Ben said, hardly ‘little enough’ based on the things I feel I still need to do while in this existence.
In the Pearl of Great Price 3:18 we are told about the eternal nature of man, “We had no beginning, we existed before, we shall have no end, we shall exist after, for we are gnolaum, or eternal. Even coeternal with our Heavenly father.” Now eternal is really an elusive word in relation to time. We are progressive beings by nature. Not all believe that, but it is very true. We have to feel that we have something of value to say and to teach our children and grandchildren by virtue of what we tell (write) them about our life. As I wrote one event after another, others came to me almost as fast as I could scribble a note to remind me to write about those later. Marcus Aurelius stated that, “Do not then consider life a thing of any value. For look at the immensity of time behind thee, and to the time which is before thee, another boundless space. In this infinity then what is the difference between him who lives three days and him who lives three generations?” Contrary to what Marcus Aurelius had to say, our life on earth has significant value for us. One might compare our earthly experience as a mortal womb and death as a birthing process into eternity.
Our earthly experience may possibly be just one of many training camps that we may have to experience during our eternal epics. One might compare our progress to achieving merit badges and after so many badges you are rewarded with a new and more important title. A new and higher position on our eternal ladder. How fast and how far we progress may depend on our knowledge of the plan, our level of intellect (talents), our obedience and our motivation.
Time, whether measured in minutes, hours, weeks, months, years or eternity is elusive and some may claim that time is only of consequence to man while he sojourns on this planet. Gottfried Leibniz and Immanuel Kant held the theory that time is neither an event nor a thing, and thus it is not itself measurable, nor can it be travelled. Man may attempt to measure it but it remains elusive. Liam Thomas Ryder said that: “Time sets the stage; fate writes the script; but only we may choose our character.” God bless us to make the most of our time and find happiness and joy as we are travelling through space (not ‘time’ apparently) on this beautiful ship called earth. The planet that God (our Father) specifically ordered built for our (His offspring) experiential growth. We may feel that we have way too much to do before we die, and yet, as we grow older, we seem to slow down. Lets try to remember what Bonnie Prudden said: “You can’t turn back the clock. But you can wind it up again.” I also like what Carl Sandberg wrote:
“Time is the most valuable coin in life. You and you alone will determine how that coin will be spent. Be careful that you do not let another spend it for you.” God bless us all to value time and to spend it wisely!