Cigar Stories 6: Tick-tock. Time is short.

It’s Sunday 6/30 at 5:50 p.m. and it’s 92-degrees under the pergola. A Manhattan and a Monte Cristo White accompany this bloviating. I hope you enjoy and I hope you comment. 

It hangs in the hallway outside the spare bedroom I use as a study and a studio. It’s an old-school clock. It’s one of those items my wife sentimentally took from her father when he got that twinkle in his eye that he gets when he wants me to haul off some junk he no longer wants and then said, “Julie – honey – do you remember that clock that used to hang in grandma’s house? Would you like to have that?”

Julie gleefully accepts, bathing herself in some real or imagined memory of when her grandma used to bake cookies within earshot of this clock. And her father laughs because he once again has caused his son-in-law to haul off some piece of junk he no longer wants cluttering his home. So that’s a win-win-lose if you’re keeping score. And I am. Here’s a pic…

It is really nothing fancy. It’s a wind up clock. I have a feeling there is a long lost or since broken piece of glass that slides in on the bottom that also says “Daylight Time.” But that didn’t come with the package from Julie’s father’s house. Just the clock. That says “Standard Time,” even though it’s Daylight Time. Thankfully, it doesn’t chime. That would drive me crazy. As that pendulum swings, it just tick-tocks.

I have to wind it about once a week. I try to do that on Sundays before we go to church and I feel “old-timey” when I do. You open that front glass, insert a key in the clock face, and crank. So the clock can keep on ticking – and it does. Second after second. Minute after minute. Hour after hour. Day after day. Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick-tock. It would be maddening to some. I find it soothing. Reassuring, even. The consistency of it – the continuum – much like God himself, the passing of time is a constant that we can count on. The tick-tock is a gentle reminder that the time will pass – the choice of how you utilize that time is the variable that we can control.

I’m 61. I am very well aware of the fact that there are more days behind me than there are ahead of me. My broadcast career made me very cognizant of time. I have a 3:35 song and I have to go to the bathroom and get more water. I have 2:20 until the top of the hour. 15-second and 30-second and 60-second commercials. It takes 22 minutes to get to church and 32 minutes to get to work. A 10:30 meeting. Two-minutes to sell myself as a candidate. 15-seconds to make a first impression. A lifetime to regret a mistake.

For better or worse, there is always a clock ticking in the back of my head. Always. And the older I get, the more those ticks and tocks become precious. When we’re young, we relish “the firsts.” The first drive. The first dance. The first kiss. The first job. The first (and hopefully, only) marriage. The first child. Their first steps. The firsts.

But when you get my age, you start thinking about “the lasts.” My last day on the air. My last words to Hugh. The last time I saw my father. The lasts are decidedly not as fun as the firsts. But I am in that stage of life where the lasts are more prevalent than the firsts. So time is everything.

The Academy Award winning Sir Anthony Hopkins has written his take on time and has compared it to candy. You may have seen it on social media. I’ll share it here…

I know that I have less to live than I have lived.

I feel like a child who was given a box of chocolates. He enjoys eating it, and when he sees that there is not much left, he starts to eat them with a special taste.

I have no time for endless lectures on public laws – nothing will change. And there is no desire to argue with fools who do not act according to their age. And there’s no time to battle the gray. I don’t attend meetings where egos are inflated and I can’t stand manipulators.

I am disturbed by envious people who try to vilify the most capable to grab their positions, talents and achievements.

I have too little time to discuss headlines – my soul is in a hurry.

Too few candies left in the box.

I’m interested in human people. People who laugh at their mistakes are those who are successful, who understand their calling and don’t hide from responsibility. Who defends human dignity and wants to be on the side of truth, justice, righteousness. This is what living is for.

I want to surround myself with people who know how to touch the hearts of others. Who, through the blows of fate, was able to rise and maintain the softness of the soul.

Yes, I hustle, I hustle to live with the intensity that only maturity can give. I’ll eat all the candy I have left – they’ll taste better than the ones I already ate.

My goal is to reach the end in harmony with myself, my loved ones and my conscience.

I thought I had two lives, but it turned out to be only one, and it needs to be lived with dignity.

Sir Anthony Hopkins

Who am I to argue with a Knight, but I disagree with Hopkins on the fact that “nothing will change.” I believe we have the power to institute change up until our last breath on earth. But other than that, he is spot on.

The Word of God has a lot to say about time. Some verses I find pertinent…

“For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.”

2 Corinthians‬ ‭6‬:‭2‬ ‭NLT‬‬

We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work.

John‬ ‭9‬:‭4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.

Psalms‬ ‭90‬:‭12‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
‭‭

Romans‬ ‭13‬:‭11‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I could go on and on, but you get the point: God wants us to be wise with our time. Well, it’s not ours. It belongs to Him.

Craig Groeschel is an author, speaker, and the lead pastor of Life.Church, whose central offices are in Edmund, Oklahoma, but has campuses all over the U.S. Craig has a bit about time that motivates me, um, every time. You can download it from iTunes and listen to it every morning. Here is the YouTube…

Much like Hopkins, I have no time to suffer fools. No time to argue on social media, or in real life, for that matter. I want to spend what little time I have left loving and caring for and serving you. Laughing and loving and ensuring that the ones I spend time with here I also spend an eternity with in Heaven and in the presence of the glory of The One whom I ultimately serve.

So please don’t take it too personally when I inquire as to the status of your salvation and the condition of your soul which is eternal. Your soul’s destination depends on a decision you make here and now. Because there are too few chocolates left in the box. Time is short. Tick-tock.