August 9

The right measurement of time

“Lord, make me to know . . . the measure of my days” (Psa. 39:4).
“Time is short” (1 Cor. 7:29).

Said General Mitchell to an army officer who apologized for a few moments’ delay: “Only a few seconds! Why, man, I am in the habit of calculating the thousandth part of a second.” John Bradford used to say, “I count that hour lost in which I have done no good, either by tongue or pen.” Seneca held that time was the only thing of which it was excusable to be covetous. Dr. Cotton Mather sometimes expressed his regret when a guest departed after merely visiting, and thus wasting his time. “I should rather have given him my money than my time,” he would say. Henry Martyn has been called “the man who never wasted an hour.”

Heart gazing mournfully
Back through past years—
Bringing sad memories,
Laden with tears—
Life’s hours wasted,
Talents abused,
Bright opportunities
Blindly refused—
Close up the record
Fraught with such pain;
Years that have vanished
Return not again.
Grasp now the Present,
Be earnest and bold—
Fleeting its moments,
More precious than gold.

Lost, somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered, for they are gone for ever.
—Horace Mann.

Why are Time’s feet so swift and ours so slow!

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