Time
As I was traveling home from work one evening I was listening to Alistair Begg speaking on a college campus. He was talking about how we need to make the most of every opportunity.
He stated, “Imagine if there is a bank that credits your account every morning $864. There is no balance carryover. Whatever you don’t use goes away. Each of us has such an account. It is called time! There are 86,400 seconds in a day. Whatever you do today is the use of the deposited money in your account. Or it is a loss from your account each day from whatever you didn’t use.”
I remember during my first year in college, coming back to the dorm from class and seeing students in our lounge playing cards. They would invite me to play and often I would stop and play cards. I loved the social aspect with these guys and playing cards. After my first semester at college I found out I could not afford to do it very often. I was on probation with a 2.175 GPA from my first semester. I could not afford to have two semesters of being on probation.
If I did not spend my time learning how to be a good student, I would have headed back home to work with my father on the farm and in the woods. Nothing wrong with that. Until I went to college, that is what I thought I would be doing the rest of my life. I loved being outdoors, but I also loved playing sports. I went to college to become a teacher, not to be sent home to work for my father because I failed to use my time wisely.
I grew up in a family where both my parents taught us to be respectful, help others, and work hard. They lead by example and I could never thank them enough. I watched my parents work around the farm. My father was also a full time logger. I worked out in the woods with him and experienced how a man should work with his hands and be proud of his labor. I watched my mother work hard taking care of the home and her children. She also picked up side jobs like making Christmas wreaths, picking cucumbers and beans for the canning factory, and other odd jobs. I was present when my father broke his hand when the hydraulics gave out on our tractor and the plow landed on his hand. He kept working. Cleaned it up later that night, but did not miss a day of work. I watched my mother break her hand when we were butchering pigs. The 55 gallon scalding barrell fell onto her hand breaking it. She kept butchering pigs. She later wrapped up her hand and did not miss making a meal, taking care of her children, or helping around the farm.
How could I go back home from college and tell my parents that I was kicked out because I could not keep my grades up. Not because I couldn’t do the work, but because I could not use the 86,400 seconds which was a gift given to me every day. I was trained how to use this gift, but was careless. I possessed the attitude that I could always take care of it later. I had to lose that attitude and get back to spending from my account wisely.
I am asking our students to take advantage of the gift of time which is deposited daily in their account. I am not suggesting they can’t have fun, because that is part of their 86,400 seconds. When they are making their choices, think about their bank account. It does pay huge dividends!
