For a very brief time last week I was under the impression I was all caught up. Don’t you like the feeling that comes knowing you are up to date and everything is accomplished? I do, I just do not experience it enough. 

It was entirely my own fault. I was gloating over the fact I had accomplished everything on my to-do-list and had some time to spare. Spare time is a rare commodity these days, at least for me. I do not even have spare change and it has been months since I have seen my spare tire.

Time is a different matter altogether. Just when I think I have a little spare time on my hands, I find it slipping through my fingers.

As I said, I was gloating over the fact I was all caught up. Being in a rather cheerful mood, I thought I would look at my calendar. I do not look at my calendar that often. It is so depressing, always telling me what to do. I hate it when somebody tells me what to do. My calendar looks at me and I look back and it simply says, do this. And there it is in black and white. What else can I do?

Without actually thinking the issue through carefully, I opened up my calendar and discovered something quite startling. It takes a whole lot to startle me. In fact, it takes a whole lot just to get me started on anything. However, I looked at my calendar and was woefully startled.

I noticed on my calendar it was the month of May. What happened to March and April? In fact, what happened to January and February?

I should have gotten a hint with all the rain we had in April. Remember that little line that goes, “April showers bring May flowers”? While I was focused on the showers in April, I did not notice that April was exhausting itself and May was sneaking around the corner to surprise me.

Boy, did it surprise me.

I guess I was just too occupied during the month of April to realize that April has a time limit. April has 30 days and when those 30 days are kaput, April is over and it is May.

I do not think May is any different from any other month. It is just that I wish the months would slow down a little bit. It seems at the beginning of the month everything is going rather slowly and then when you hit the middle of the month the days must go into some kind of panic and race towards the end. Why these days of the month have to hasten towards the remainder of the month is something I will never wrap my head around.

If I were a swearing man, I would swear it was still February. I believe there ought to be a month, at least one month in the year, where there are like 75 to 80 days. Why be so legalistic about all of this? Why be so judgmental?

Every day of the month insists it will only be around for 24 hours. Not 25 hours. Not even 20 hours. But every day insists on being around for 24 hours and then it disappears. Now, where does it go?

When I go on a vacation, I know where I am going and the sad part of my vacation is at the end of the vacation I come back. Now where does time go? And, why doesn’t it ever return.

For instance. I am thinking of celebrating my 37^thbirthday this year. I am not 37 years old, but I cannot remember what I did on my 37^thbirthday. I think that if I cannot remember what happened on my 37^thbirthday, I should be able to repeat it. Why can’t I go back and be 37 for just one day? I do not need to be 37 forever, just one day!

But no, Father Time has made a rule that you can only be 37 one day out of the year and you can never repeat that, ever again. Of course, there was Jack Benny who was 39 all his life.

I noticed in my calendar there were many items that needed doing. As I looked at them, I realized I had done them the month before. Some things are so insistent that you do them every month. My electric bill, for instance. Why do I have to pay that every month? Why can’t the electric company give me a vacation once a year?

Another thing that bothers me. When I am having a good time at whatever I am doing, why does time pass so quickly? I remember in school the time leading up to recess went ever so slow and I never thought it would arrive. Once I got out to recess, it went so quickly I had to return to class almost before I left the classroom. What is that all about?

I took a little bit of time to think about what good old King Solomon said about the subject. “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

Time is a commodity either you spend it or lose it. The bad part is once you lose it you can never get it back. Enjoy today, it’s the only today you have.