"A town in Maryland was planning a 2005 Memorial Day tribute to veterans. The plan called for actors to stand in for actual veterans of long ago wars, including World War I. The plans were changed however when organizers learned of Lloyd Brown, a 103 year old WWI veteran who lied about his age so he could join the war when he was only 16 years old.
The Veteran’s Administration estimates that Brown, who lives alone and still has his driver’s license, is one of only about 30 living veterans of the First World War. No doubt, he’s one of even fewer still able to participate in a parade.
When I heard this story, I was reminded of the swift passing of time and how every generation is destined to someday leave this world. The Bible emphasizes that life is short. Our time here is limited. That’s why we must make every day count for God. We must redeem the time.
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"I once worked for the Palm Beach County Florida School System teaching English to Spanish speaking adults. One night a well meaning volunteer showed up to help with my beginner’s class. Unfortunately, each time a student would ask him a question he would get frustrated with them and say “speak English.”
The volunteer kept forgetting that the reason they were there was they couldn’t speak English. He didn’t realize that people just don’t know what they don’t know.
That’s true of all of us. There is some area of knowledge where all of us are lacking. And it could be a good investment of time to focus one evening on gaining knowledge in an area where you are deficient instead of simply being entertained.
The book of Proverbs repeatedly encourages us to gain knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. Yet most people are happy to remain blissfully ignorant because they just don’t know what they don’t know. But taking time to find out what you don’t know, might redeem the time.
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"Is there really any such thing as a “morning person?” I suppose it all depends on what you mean.
God made people in all different varieties. Some of those differences may include our temperaments toward alertness at different times of the day. Some people, especially those who grew up with the habit of early rising, find it easier to get out of bed and get going early in the day. For others, it takes something above 8.0 on the Richter Scale to get them moving.
The problem comes, when we use the “I’m just not a morning person” line to excuse what the Bible calls laziness. The truth is we can all get up on those occasions when we really have to get up. While there is such a thing as genuine physical fatigue, I’m afraid it is quite often a character deficiency that causes us to miss morning devotions because of oversleeping.
If that’s the case, practicing some “mind over mattress” could redeem the time.
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"While searching the internet recently, I came across something I’m amazed that I have survived without for the past 43 years. It was a motorized, revolving tie rack. It held about 30 ties, came with mounting hardware, and required 4 C batteries.
I really couldn’t understand why anyone would buy a motorized revolving tie rack. I suppose it could be done in the name of time management, but you could easily a tie from a standard tie rack much quicker than waiting on this gadget to spin around. Not to mention the time mounting it and changing batteries.
Then I thought of how God often gives us desires to do great things for Him, but instead of channeling those desires into the great works He intended, we squander those impulses on lesser things.
Today, if God gives you the desire to do something great for Him, don’t divert that desire toward a trinket. Accept God’s gift of time, and put it to it’s best possible use, so you’ll redeem the time.
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