By: Doris Schroeder
We are just beginning our stint into another year. It doesn’t seem possible that units of time that used to take forever, are now speeding through the remainder of my years with lightening speed. The world is changing rapidly, even making it difficult for the younger generation to keep up. I have noticed certain adjustments I have to make in my thinking as time goes by. There are, however, some things that will never change and it is important to know what they are.
I can remember the things that were important when I was young. Being respectful to my elders, my teachers, and all the ones who had authority over me.
I can‘t say I always agreed with them, but I knew what I had to do. My family moved around a lot when I was a child and I started out at eight different new schools. I didn’t always love the teacher but I knew enough to respect his/her authority and knew it was my place to do what they said.
I remember that students who talked back to their teachers, their parents, or anyone else in authority over them, usually had to endure some punishment. Some of my high school classmates ( mostly the boys, of course) told stories at the reunions about how, after being called into the principal’s office (Milo Stuckey’s) for some bit of misdemeanor, they were less inclined to continue along that road.
There was seldom a time I told my parents what to do. Even the thought was unheard of. When I was told we were going to move, I had to accept it and never tried to argue them out of it. We usually looked for the good that could come, even though it didn’t always happen. It seldom occurred to me to ask my parents for some material thing. If they suggested it, fine, otherwise I found some way to earn the money, and even though it took a little time, I usually found a way.
Then, of course, most of us have had to sit through business meetings in our life that have taken a lot of time…perhaps hours. Sometimes the only thing we got out of all that time was the minutes that were given to us later. Still, they are a necessary part of life. If things aren’t pre-planned, they would be wasted.
They say we Americans have more labor-saving devices than any other country and yet, we have less time to spend with our family to visit and talk.
Of course, we have all waited in a doctor’s off ice for great lengths of time.
If the old adage “Time heals all wounds,” were really true, we wouldn’t even need to go in to see the doctor…we’d be healed before they called our name.
I am always amazed how many special creams there are on the market that are supposed “to eradicate the wrinkles of time” from our faces. Why would we want to do that…the wrinkles are only laugh lines and they don’t show as long as we are smiling. Look sober for one minute, though, and people can certainly see your age! I’ve often wondered why a lot of elderly people seem to smile all the time.
Do you remember how you used to save before you bought something. Nowadays, you can not only buy something on time, but time doesn’t start for another year or two. How much fun is it to buy something that is already two or three years old? Besides, by then, it may even be worn out. Perhaps their adage could be As time goes, buy!
When John and I were newly weds, it was my job to budget and pay the bills. I had a certain amount for the groceries every two weeks. Any other extras also had to come out of that sum. One day, a salesman came by and sold me a huge dictionary on payments. I thought I could easily swing that out of the budget but after several weeks, it got a little hard as I did not have anything for other expenses that came along. When I finally got it paid for, I didn’t have the nerve to tell John of such a purchase. I kept it and gave it to him for a Christmas present. I’m sure he wondered about such a present, especially when we were watching our budget very carefully. That was the last time I bought such a frivolous purchase without thinking it over. I suppose that is why I will never buy from a salesman that is too pushy.
Still, time continues to go by. The Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes 3: There is a time for everything. and a season for everything under the sun. In this passage, the author tells us that a life without God is meaningless and purposeless. When you think about it, that would cover a lot of things we do in life that really don’t make much sense. If we think about it, pray about it, and let God lead us, after we have accepted him into our heart, we will find purpose in the year to come…2015. We can all make life count as time goes by!
