Coffee and a Cold Shower

I worry a lot.  Yes, yes, yes, you needn't remind me.  I know that it comes to nothing, all this expenditure of energy on things I cannot change.  Nobody knows what the future has.  We plan, we get surprised, we get flattened, we get overjoyed.  Worrying doesn't change any of it.  And be honest -- you know that on some level, you worry just like I do.

My Grandpa Filson was not what I would call a Christian in the sense that He was a proclaimed follower of Jesus.  He was a nice guy.  And he used to admonish Grandma "don't borrow trouble."  It was wise advice to the woman he loved and could not live without.  Whatever he believed (and I hope to see him in heaven) -- at least he knew his wife shouldn't be wasting time on people and things over which she had no control.

But here is what I worry the most about:  redeeming the time.  At night, I often hear words in my head to a song that Rich Mullins wrote and that I had the pleasure and privilege of getting to sing:  Borrowed Time.

Boy, borrowed time is bad economy.
Cash in before the market folds.
We've got a case of highway robbery.
This living in the fast lane takes it's toll!

You spin your wheels of fortune,
But, the gamble doesn't pay.
While everything that is important 

Takes a little time

Take a little time to get it straight
Capital crime!

Don't let your life go to waste!
Redeem the time! Redeem the day!

My how time flies when you are having fun

 Oh, how hard we try to keep up.
You spend yourself with reckless abandon
'Til you take what you hoped for, and count it loss.

But, you keep putting off forever
The biggest bargain ever made.
While the offer's good, you'd better
Take a little time

Take a little time to set it straight.

 Capital crime! 

Don't let your life go to waste!
Redeem the time! Redeem the day!

Naked you came into this world, naked you'll go.
And, you'll leave the act behind you When the curtains close the show.
You keep your name however much you change your clothes.
And, in the end you face yourself alone.

Your time is yours, remember when it's gone
You'll give account for how well it was spent.
Oh, boy be careful that you spend it on
The life you keep and not just things you rent

So, don't you lose another moment--

 They so quickly become days.
And, the time is fleeting --

 So, just take a little time

Take a little time to set it straight

 Capital crime -- 

Don't let your life go to waste! 

Redeem the time! Redeem the day!

I may not understand the passing of time as well as I should.  But I completely get the budgeting of money and using it for wise purposes.  I am not good at investments.  But I am in control of the way I spend my time.  It is a frightening thing to remember that I will be called to account for the hours I spent wasted on video games and movies.  On indulgences that amount to nothing.   Time is cash in our wallets, and we spend it like water running through our fingers.  It is like a credit card.  We spend and never think about it -- but the bill is coming due, make no mistake. 

It is time -- not for worrying about the bill -- but for spending the time wisely.  Pun intended.