Many 21st century
people are trapped in what I call ‘The Manana Syndrome.’ How so? Because life these days is inundated with a
host of demanding tasks and activities that monopolize our time and drain our
energy. We are busy, busy, busy – and
even while insisting that we are MULTI-TASKERS, we typically feel overextended
and we truly struggle to handle the multiplicity of ‘stuff’ that is thrown our
way all at once. Three primary casualties emerge from these crowded daily
agendas: relationships with God, relationships with loved ones and our overall
state of health.
In the Spanish
language, the word “manana” means TOMORROW. BECAUSE WE ARE SO OVERBURDENED WITH MINUTIA,
WE TEND TO PROCRASTINATE! Suffering from
sensory overload, and failing to properly prioritize time, talent and treasure,
we put off for tomorrow those mission critical objectives that should be
accomplished today. A wise adage
suggests to us that “procrastination is the thief of time.” And it is.
However, on the flip side of the coin, we do not allow ourselves the luxury
of stopping our roller-coaster ride for just 30 minutes a day to think deeply
about what we are doing, or not doing. As
I often say, we are too busy being busy!
I love the following
story. A beautiful brown baby hippo
named Daisy was grinning and floating happily on her back in a water-filled mud
hole in Central Africa. Daisy’s Mom,
Mrs. Penelope Hippopotamus, was beside herself with frustration! You see, Mrs. H was very time conscious and
consistently punctual. With a busy
schedule for the morning, including a planned shopping expedition to
Hippos-R-Us, Mrs. H had no time to waste with Daisy’s shenanigans.
“Daisy! DAISY!” she
shouted frantically, “Where are you child?” No answer. Before long, Mrs. H discovered Daisy at her
favorite hideaway, bathing lazily in the intense African sun. I don’t have to tell you that she was livid! Mrs. H stood for a moment glaring down at
Daisy, then voluminous vexation flowed freely from her lips: “DAISY! Child, you’ll never amount to anything lying
around like this! What you doin’ down
there, gal? We got THANGS to do!” However, Daisy just laid back, taking her
time, floating on her muddy river of ease.
Adjusting her
position ever so slowly, Daisy smiled up at her mother and offered an excuse:
“Uncle Bobo says things will get better SOMEDAY…and I figure he ain’t talkin’
about TODAY…so I’m just chillin’ here, waitin’ on TOMORROW! Yeah Momma, TOMORROW is my FAVORITE day. Take it easy…we’ve got TOMORROW!”
Serious Question:
HAS YOUR MOTHER EVER DRILLED A HOLE IN YOUR FACE…using nothing but her eyeballs
as power tools? Answer: YES! And your Momma’s non-verbal communiqué assured
you that there would be grave consequences for any failure to comply with her
wishes! Well, in the heat of such a
piercing maternal glare, Daisy was seriously reevaluating her original game
plan. Just then she heard Momma’s
volcanic voice: “DAISY…if you don’t evacuate that mud hole pronto…I’ll make
your TODAY so HOT…it will BURN UP the BACKSIDE of your TOMORROW!” Daisy recanted her proposition and headed forthwith
to Hippos-R-Us!
Carefully consider
this: Equally as bad as being OVERWHELMED by busy and overcrowded schedules is
the prospect of being UNDERWHELMED by inactivity and idleness (e.g. Daisy Hippo).
Time is indeed paradoxical; it can be
spent and wasted, but never saved. It
can be lost, but never found; that is, once lost, it can never be retrieved. The prolific author of children’s books, Dr.
Seuss, once asked this comical question: “How did it get so late…so soon?” While his question sounds rather humorous to
us, it is a deadly serious matter.
William Penn, the
founder of my home state of Pennsylvania, declared “Time is what we want most,
but what we use worst.” A famous fellow
Pennsylvanian, Benjamin Franklin, said “You may delay, but time will not.” In other words, time is the most precious
human commodity. The irony is that we
spend far too little time or effort ORGANIZING OUR MOST VALUABLE ASSET: THE
GIFT OF TIME. Only in hindsight do we
measure and treasure its true worth. For
example, after a loved one has transitioned, we typically regard our shared
moments with a higher degree of emotional awareness and sensitivity.
Here’s an important
observation (in the form of a question) that I pray will be taken to heart by
each and every reader: ‘Have you ever stopped for one moment and thought about
the fact that you are now __ years old, and that you sometimes have difficulty
remembering what has happened in the last 5, 10, 20 (or more) years?’ In a sense, it feels like you have been in a
curious sort of coma, passing through YEARS with little or no awareness of what
is really going on! It’s frightening
isn’t it? I mean, when you stop to
think, it feels like mere MOMENTS AGO that you were age 15, or 21, or 30, or
40, or whatever. And you ask yourself:
‘Where did it all go…how did it pass by so quickly…and what have I noted,
learned, done, or accomplished along the way?
That kind of
‘awakening moment’ brings us to another critically important question: What is
the biblical perspective on time? That
is, how does GOD see TIME and how does He evaluate our relationship to it? In the next installment of this series, I
will provide a few practical scriptural insights, but here is one clue. The late humanitarian, Mother Teresa, said
this about time: “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow
has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” Stay tuned…more to come manana…I
mean tomorrow.
Sisters and brothers,
be continually blessed, and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO
MEET OUR SOON COMING KING. Maranatha!
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