Make Time

PUSSY CAT, PUSSY CAT WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?

"I HAVE BEEN TO LONDON TO VISIT THE QUEEN"

PUSSY CAT, PUSSY CAT WHAT DID YOU THERE?

"I FRIGHTENED A LITTLE MOUSE RIGHT UNDER HER CHAIR"

YOU EVER THINK ABOUT IT? HERE IS A CAT THAT HAS BEEN GIVEN PROBABLY THE GREATEST OPPORTUNITY OF HIS LIFE, THE CHANCE TO SEE THE QUEEN. TO ENJOY ALL THE PRIVILEGES OF MEETING MONARCHY. NOW I DON’T KNOW YOUR OPINION OF THE ROYAL FAMILY BUT MOST OF US ARE CURIOUS ENOUGH BY NATURE TO JUMP AT A CHANCE TO MEET QUEEN ELIZABETH AND ALL HER CHILDREN. SO HERE IS OUR HERE PUSSY CAT, WHO FOR BREVITY SAKE WE SHALL CALL P.C. P.C. HAS GONE TO LONDON TO SEE THE QUEEN AND WHEN HE GETS THERE FROM HIS COMMENTARY WE DISCOVER THAT INSTEAD OF MAKING THE MOST OF THE TIME HE HAD WITH HER HE DID A VERY COMMON AND INSTINCTIVE THING. HE CHASED A MOUSE RIGHT UNDER HER CHAIR. NOT A BAD THING, NOT AN EVIL THING, BUT GIVEN THE CIRCUMSTANCES PROBABLY NOT THE BEST POSSIBLE USE THAT HE COULD HAVE GIVEN TO HIS TIME. AND YET I AM SURE THAT IF YOU SPOKE TO P.C. THAT HE WOULD TELL YOU THAT RIGHT THEN THAT HAD SEEMED TO BE THE THING THAT COULD BE DONE. AFTER ALL HE WAS A CAT AND THE MOUSE WAS A MOUSE AND TRADITION, DUTY AND OBLIGATION WOULD SAY THAT THERE WAS INDEED SOME URGENCY REQUIRED IF HE WAS TO CATCH THE MOUSE.

AND SO THE TYRANNY OF THE URGENT TOOK OVER AND ROBBED P.C. OF HIS ENTIRE PURPOSE OF GOING TO SEE THE QUEEN. FROM HIS BRIEF ACCOUNT OF HIS VISIT THIS WOULD APPEAR TO BE THE SUM TOTAL WHAT HAPPENED IN HIS ENCOUNTER WITH ROYALTY. NOT THAT HE DID ANYTHING WRONG, BUT HE SACRIFICED THE BEST POSSIBLE USE OF HIS TIME TO SATISFY HIS PRECONCEIVED IDEA OF THE NECESSARY.

I WONDER THIS MORNING HOW MANY OF US COULD TESTIFY TO HAVING WASTED PRECIOUS MOMENTS WITH THE NECESSARY WHEN MUCH GREATER OPPORTUNITIES LAY AT HAND. LET ME START WITH TWO PREMISES THAT YOU MAY OR MAY NOT AGREE WITH AND THAT IS YOUR PREROGATIVE COMPLETELY. THE FIRST THING IS THIS, YOU WILL ALWAYS FIND TIME TO DO THE THINGS THAT YOU WANT TO DO. YOU CAN BELIEVE THAT OR NOT BUT THINK ABOUT IT. WHEN I WAS IN BIBLE COLLEGE I COULD NEVER FIND TIME TO STUDY, I USED TO LAMENT ABOUT THERE NOT BEING ENOUGH HOURS IN THE DAY, SOUND FAMILIAR? RIGHT BUT I COULD ALWAYS FIND TIME TO TAKE ANGELA OUT, OR TO GO TO A HOCKEY GAME, OR READ A GOOD BOOK, OR PLAY MONOPOLY WITH PETER FULLER, JEFF TURCOTTE AND ALLAN MULLEN UNTIL THREE O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING. BUT THERE WAS NEVER ENOUGH TIME TO STUDY.

THE SECOND THING IS THAT YOU HAVE THE SAME TWENTY FOUR HOURS IN YOUR DAY AS EVERYBODY ELSE, THE SAME TWENTY FOUR HOURS THAT PRIME MINISTER Cretin HAS IN HIS DAY AND HE HAS A COUNTRY TO RUN. GOD DOESN’T GIVE SOME PEOPLE THIRTY HOUR DAYS AND OTHER PEOPLE TEN HOUR DAYS, EVERYONE OF US GETS TWENTY FOUR HOURS IN OUR DAY, AND EVERY HOUR HAS SIXTY MINUTES IN IT, AND EVERY MINUTE HAS SIXTY SECONDS IN IT. WE ALL GET THE SAME AMOUNT OF TIME IN OUR DAY, BUT EACH ONE OF US WILL DETERMINE HOW WE ARE GOING TO SPEND THOSE HOURS.

SOMEBODY ONCE SAID "WE WASTE OUR TIME AS IF IT WERE AS WORTHLESS AS MONEY!" YOU CAN ALWAYS MAKE MORE MONEY BUT WHEN TIME IS GONE IT’S GONE FOREVER.

SOLOMON TELLS US IN ECCLESIASTES 3 THAT THERE IS A TIME FOR EVERY THING IN OUR LIFE. THAT MAY SEEM LIKE A SIMPLISTIC APPROACH IN a hurried, frantic, hectic LIFE BUT THE WORD OF GOD TELLS US THAT THERE IS TIME FOR US TO DO EVERYTHING NECESSARY IN OUR LIFE ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS DECIDE WHAT IS IMPORTANT ENOUGH FOR US TO TAKE TIME FOR. TOO MANY OF US ARE LIKE THE LADY WHO HAD A POEM ON HER REFRIGERATOR, SOME ONE ASKED HER WHAT IT WAS AND SHE SAID, "IT REPRESENTS HOW I NEED TO RE-EVALUATE MY LIFE, IT STARTS "LORD, SLOW ME DOWN . . ." BUT I HAVEN’T HAD TIME TO READ THE REST OF IT.

EVERYONE OF US RECEIVES AN EQUAL AMOUNT OF TIME, THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN US IS HOW WE CHOOSE TO SPEND IT. EACH WEEK BRINGS US 168 HOURS, NO MORE, NO LESS, 168 GOLDEN HOURS. WE WILL SPEND APPROXIMATELY 56 OF THOSE HOURS SLEEPING, 28 HOURS EATING AND ATTENDING TO OUR PERSONAL NEEDS AND ANOTHER 40 TO 50 HOURS A WEEK EARNING A LIVING. AND THAT LEAVES US 30 - 40 HOURS A WEEK THAT WE GET TO CHOOSE WHAT WE WANT TO DO. LIKE OUR OLD FRIEND "PUSSY CAT PUSSY CAT" WE OFTEN PERMIT THE URGENT THINGS TO CROWD OUT THE IMPORTANT THINGS IN LIFE."