Lynn Jones: Using our time well
By Lynn Jones
When I first started watching NFL games on television in the 1950’s, the time on the scoreboard clock was not the official time. The official time was kept on the field by an official. Because of this, when the official time ran down to two minutes in the half, the referee blew a whistle and informed the coaches of the correct time—two minutes left in the half. Nowadays, the game clock on the scoreboard is the official time. Although this is true, the officials in the NFL still observe the two-minute warning. In fact, NFL football’s two-minute warning has become so popular that this year college football added it to its games as well. The referee stops the clock and tells the coaches what they should already know—there are two minutes remaining in the half. The fact that there are only two minutes remaining to be played in the half or in the entire football game, the strategy for that period of time changes. The game has a new sense of urgency. Every remaining second must be used wisely.
I think it would be beneficial if we had a two-minute warning in life—or, maybe a two-week, or two-month, or two-year warning. Some people, in fact, do have such a warning. Their doctors may tell them that they have only a very limited time to live.
Such a warning charges every remaining moment of life with added significance. We often sleepwalk our way through much of life with little sense of the urgency of our stewardship of time. E. B. White told of talking with a friend named Henry in a coffee shop. White said, “I was waiting for my wife to pick me up. Henry, being without attachments, was waiting for the end of time.” That last part of the line could describe a good many folks. I often see people that I have not seen in a long time. As I try to figure out who they are, I think of the lines from Fiddler on the Roof, “Is this the little girl I carried?/ Is this the little boy at play?/ I don’t remember growing older./When did they?”
Time has a way of slipping by all of us without our noticing. We hear a lot about “non-renewable resources” these days. That is what time is. It is a non-renewable resource. Use it once, and it is gone forever.
In the words of Paul, we need to “Redeem the time” (Eph. 5:16). Do something worthwhile with it. A poet announced his intention of having a new inscription inscribed over his mortal remains. He would still have the dates of his birth and death included, but between those two dates he would have inscribed in capital letters, “HE LIVED!” May God help us be good stewards of each day we live.
Lynn Jones is a retired pastor who lives in Oxford. He does supply preaching for churches in his area and often serves as an interim pastor. Jones is also an author, has written two books and writes a weekly newspaper column. He may be contacted at: kljones45@yahoo.com.
