Life Stolen Staring

Of no small concern should be the hourglass!
How often turned, each span unretrieved;
The sand's cycled falls, unnoticed, march past;
Each turn marks your life that much less, ungrieved!
Do you count how few remain till it's o'er?
What noble deeds undone, that might have been;
What rich service rendered, but now, no more;
How much greater the race you still could win!
"Dear Lord: Hold back the turns of falling sand,
That my life's finish will its start surpass;
Let each turn expire under your command,
No more wasted spans of my life's hourglass!"
The gift of time is too precious and brief,
To waste it staring at the tee-vee-thief*!

*tee-vee-thief = television set

"Now, listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.'" (James 4:13-15)

Can you fathom why the average adult in America spends 4 hours per day on his backside staring at the wrong-principled, pre-teen fare offered on television, while the mist that is his life slowly dissolves away? Of what service and love is that for others, which is what Jesus commanded us to occupy our lives with? How can we spread our hands in frustration and say, 'If I just had more time!'? Can you believe employees steal their employers' precious time discussing what happened on last night's edition of "Survivor", a program that teaches us opposite principles than those the Bible advocates?

Television is not the only tool of Satan that pulls our attention from Godly activities and sucks up the mist that is our time to live. The pursuit of money without working for it on the stock market, when we cannot be assured of living long enough for it to produce a profit, taunts God. Jesus told us the parable of the boastful farmer who planned to tear down his small barns and build larger to hold his wealth, even though his life through the night was not assured him. We can't even guarantee to be able to finish a movie we begin, much less use a time-share purchase for oodles of future vacations! The Christian doesn't put off until tomorrow his service to others when he can do it today!