Unlike God who remembers even our most forgotten deeds, I have to write everything down I want to remember. That way, instead of spending a lot of time trying to remember what I wrote down, I spend my time looking for the paper I wrote it on. Judy says that I should have become a college professor because I already have the absentmindedness part down perfectly.
The passage of time confronts us during these High
Holidays. The seasons have gone through another complete cycle. We’re all one
more year older and some of our most beloved family and friends have gone to
their eternal home. No wonder we think about the meaning of time and his
purpose in our lives.
Time is a spiritual commodity. Unlike the old Rolling
Stone song “Time is on my side,” we don’t have an inexhaustible supply of time.
How we invest our time matters as someone once put it:
To realize the value of one year: ask a student failed
his final exam.
To realize the value of 1 month: ask a mother who has
given birth to a premature baby.
To realize the value of 1 minute: ask a person who
missed the train, bus, or plane.
To realize the value of 1 second: ask a person who
survived an accident.
To realize the value of 1 millisecond: ask the person
who won a silver medal in the Olympics.
The use of time is just as much a measure of our
spiritual concern as the use of our money. Don’t we often say: “Time is money.”
That’s true more that many of us realize.
A man dreamed he walked into an impressive building that
was somewhat like a bank yet not a bank, because the brass marker said: “Time
for Sale.” He saw a man breathless and pale, painfully pulling himself up the
stairs like the victim of some dreaded disease. “The doctor told me that I was
five years too late in going to see him” the man told the teller. “I’ll buy
those five years now and then the doctor can save my life.”
Then came a woman, older in years, who said to the
clerk: “When it was too late, I discovered that God had given me great
capacities and endowments, and I failed to develop them. Sell me 10 years so
that I can become the woman I should have been.”
Then came a younger person who declared: “The company
has told me that starting next month I can have a big job, if I’m prepared to
take it. But I’m not prepared. Give me two years of time so that I’ll be ready
to take the job next month.
And so they came in a steady procession-the ill,
hopeless, despondent, worried, unhappy-and left smiling, each person with a
look of unutterable pleasure on his face, for he had what he so desperately
needed and wanted-time.
Charles Spezzano put it like this: “You don’t really
pay for things with money. You pay for them with time. ‘In 5 years,’ we say,
‘I’ll have put enough away to buy their vacation house we want. Then I’ll slow
down.’”
That means the house will cost you 5 ½ years of your adult life. Translate the
dollar value of the house, car, or anything else into time and then you see if
it’s still worth it. The phrase spending your time isn’t a metaphor. It is how
life works.” Our time is as valuable as the material treasures.
Are we good stewards of our time when comes to
ourselves? As we ponder the passage of time and its meaning, we need to answer
that question. It’s amazing how much we might accomplish if we put our time to
better use
Think about how much time you spend watching TV or
surfing the Internet and afterwards thinking what a waste of time it was. I
could have been reading a good book. I could have taken a walk in the park.
Almost anything else would have been a better use of my time.
Nobody would ever think of throwing away money or
material goods even though they can be replaced. But why are people heedless of
time, an irreplaceable commodity? When we use time to maximize our human
potential, we discover the spiritual meaning we crave.
Are we good stewards of our time when comes to our
family and friends?
There’s a story about two steamships that left Memphis
about the same time, traveling down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. As
they traveled side-by-side, sailors from one vessel made a few remarks about
the snail pace of the other. Words were exchanged and soon they were in a race.
Competition became vicious as the two boats roared through the deep South.
One boat was falling behind due to lack of fuel. There
had been plenty of coal for the trip, but not enough for a race. When the ship
ran out of coal, the sailors fueled their boat with the cargo that they been
signed to transport. They ended up winning the race, but burned her cargo.
God has entrusted cargo to us too: children,
grandchildren, spouses, and friends. I hope we tend to our significant others
better than this husband. A husband tells his friend that his wife complained
that he ruined her birthday. He tells his friend that’s impossible because “I
didn’t even know it was her birthday.”
Our job is to do our part in seeing that this cargo
reaches its destination. Yet when the program takes priority over people,
people often suffer. How much cargo do we sacrifice in order to achieve the
number one slot?
As usual my sermons are really directed to me. My
granddaughter Layla at the age of 6 ½ knows how to guilt schlep. She complained
to Judy that I never play with her because I’m always at shul working.
Understanding that she is correct, Judy and I spent a
whole Sunday with Layla at Coney Island. I joined her on rides at Luna Park and
then swimming in the ocean. We also spent a week with our Boston grandchildren
Eli and Addie. We took Eli to the MIT Museum and aboard the USS Constitution as
well as seeing Addie star in her JCC play Shrek Junior.
Certainly you’re familiar with the story of the Iliad
and the Odyssey or at least seen the new movie the Odyssey staring Matt Damon
as Odysseus.
Odysseus leads his army in the rescue of Helen of
Troy. During the 10 year battle, he discovers a taste for challenge and
adventure. While his wife and sons wait faithfully for him to come home, he and
his men spend 10 more years on the high seas, seeking out enemies to fight and
heroics to perform.
Odysseus wanderlust prevents him from going home to
those who love him. This is until he learns a very important lesson.
Odysseus sails so far that he sails right to the edge
of the world, to the land of shadows, that the Greeks called Hades. In Greek
culture, the afterlife was represented by a shadow world, void of any love,
joy, hope, or peace.
There in Hades dwelled all of Odysseus’s heroes whom
he was emulating, but they have no glory now. Instead, they are desperate for
news from the land of the living. What has become of the family and friends?
What has become of the people who love them? Suddenly, Odysseus realizes only
love that will last beyond the land of the shadows. Only love that will last
beyond them grave.
How are you doing with the stewardship of your time?
Are you investing in that which will never die? Are you giving time to those
who love you the most?
Finally, are you giving enough of your time to God?
One of the most unfortunate byproducts of the frantic schedule that many of us
live, is we’re neglecting time developing a personal relationship with the הקב"ה.
Too few of us are training our children or
grandchildren to include God in their busy lives. How many of us spent time
with our children or grandchildren studying Torah together? How many of us come
to the synagogue as a family? One of my colleagues wanted to put a sign outside
his synagogue school wing that read: “At least slow down, before dropping your
children off.”
How many of us use Shabbat as a vehicle to add a
spiritual dimension to our families’ lives? Will our children and grandchildren
be able to build their spiritual future upon the foundations we lay for them
today?
Time is the spiritual commodity that can reach every
moment of our lives. The great band Chicago wrote a song about time too just
like the Rolling Stones. But they ask a very poignant question for us Jews
during this High Holiday season. They sing: “Does Anybody Know What Time It
Really Is?
Rabbi Tarphon taught in Pirkei Avot: “הַיּוֹם קָצָר וְהַמְּלָאכָה מְרֻבָּה, וְהַפּוֹעֲלִים עֲצֵלִים, וְהַשָּׂכָר הַרְבֵּה, וּבַעַל הַבַּיִת דּוֹחֵק:-The day is short, the task is great, the workers indolent, the reward is bountiful, and the Master insistent.” (2:20)
All we need is some Jewish time management penciled in our busy lives, time for her own personal spiritual growth, time for family, and time for relationship with God this year 5787.
No wonder we pray to God during
these High Holidays to help us number days so that we may get a heart of
wisdom.
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