This weekend is the annual return to daylight savings time. As usual, some are talking about how they are going to be ‘messed up’ for days because of losing that hour of sleep. Some here in northern Indiana always seem to talk about wishing we could go back to never moving our clocks like we used to (when we stayed on Eastern Standard Time year-round). Personally, I like the extra hour of daylight at the end of the day, and I would be okay with leaving the clocks there all year. But…I’ve never thought of it as saving any time.
Perhaps some of the experiences I had in the time and place where I had the privilege of growing up helped me to focus on using time not saving time…For instance, I learned to use time to have fun and enjoy things that are lost today. On those long summer days after the store closed, I’d sit on the porch of the store usually with two or three others from our little town. We would talk, laugh, share stories and watch the mighty muscle cars of the day go by…waiting for someone with a finely tuned “big-block” to pull up to the stop sign. We would instantly yell out, “Light em up!” or “Let’s hear it!” Most would oblige us with a mighty roar of their engine and a decent burn-out as they took off, and occasionally if one was a good driver, they would treat us to a perfect “360” right there in front of us!
Another example of using time that created a wonderful memory for me, yet some might consider it a waste of time was some of the older men who would come into our general store and tell their stories. If two men named ‘D.R.’ and ‘Louie’ ever met at the same time in the store, it was incredible! Those men put together could talk for hours with stories that usually began with “Years ago”…that’s all it would take, and the stories could flow for hours. (If you listen very carefully there was also a lot of history mixed in the stories they were telling!) Now that is so foreign to the way people live and work today that many may think those men were wasting time NOT using time. I still disagree. Those men were using their minds, reliving exciting events from their lives and passing on history that was soon to be gone forever! I enjoyed hearing it and they enjoyed telling it. The time was enjoyably used, not wasted.
There have been many popular songs over the years about time, turning back time or saving time and other matters of time. But the song I like the most about time is almost word for word the first eight verses of Ecclesiastes 3. It was a number one hit for The Byrds in 1965, the song: “Turn! Turn! Turn!” The meaning is “A time for everything.”
I know I can’t save time…But! I do want to continue to use time to learn, have fun, relax, enjoy creation and to worship and honor the One who created that time for us to use…God.
Till Next Time…..
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