Wasted Time

 

This morning I’m up early and decide to listen to some John Cougar Mellencamp music and discover that he has a new song out with Bruce Springsteen called Wasted Days. Well, right off the bat, let me admit, I’ve been a fan of Springsteen and Mellencamp for quite some time. There is an aspect to their music I can relate to. Forget the politics and various beliefs they may have, heck if I criticized and measured everything by personal beliefs in life related to politics or another religious believes life would be boring and I would have a lot less joy in life. Instead, I’ve learned to appreciate a variety, so, I really like these two guys music and the new song has me reflecting this morning.

 

Am I the only one that looks back on life as they get older, or I guess even youngsters do this and reflect on the wasted moments in life, whether they be spiritual, in practice, the decisions we’ve made and so forth? I realize that at least for me, I’ve wasted far more than I’ve achieved. It isn’t that I haven’t achieved anything, I know I have, even escaping homelessness to graduate high school was an accomplishment, but like Schindler in the movie Schindler’s List, I see how much more I could have done. As I get older, in likely my last years, that matters.

 

So, what do I/We do with the wasted moments in life?  One thing I’ve learned, is once a moment is wasted, we can’t go back in time and reclaim it, it is gone. If we are lucky, we can be given an opportunity to reclaim that which we lost, but the reality is, we’re not all so lucky.

 

I am reminded of Jesus words from The Sermon on the Mount, this from the Contemporary English Version of the Bible, Matthew 6: 31-34:

³¹ Don’t worry and ask yourselves, “Will we have anything to eat? Will we have anything to drink? Will we have any clothes to wear?” ³² Only people who don’t know God are always worrying about such things. Your Father in heaven knows that you need all of these. ³³ But more than anything else, put God’s work first and do what he wants. Then the other things will be yours as well.

 

³⁴ Don’t worry about tomorrow. It will take care of itself. You have enough to worry about today.

 

Are you like me, having a problem especially with verse 34, worrying about tomorrow?  Heck I worry about yesterday if truth be told, even the premise of this posting, what have I wasted in life?  Yet we do things like procrastinate and put things off, I do, but then there are clear verses, warns us to not procrastinate:

 Ecclesiastes 11:4 - If you worry about the weather and don’t plant seeds, you won’t harvest a crop.

 

Yet, knowing simple things like this, we still waste time and opportunities. Why?  Especially if we are seeking to serve a loving God with our all?

We must be willing to receive discipline, and discipline ourselves, no matter how difficult it is,  from the book of Wisdom. Proverbs 10:17

 

Accept correction, and you will find life; reject correction, and you will miss the road.

 

Yep, like I started off with, I have missed the road, I have wasted far more time than I should have in life. This is a confession as much as it is a lesson or teaching. Hopefully, I don’t waste so much time today and tomorrow, but even more so, hopefully, my expression of my own weaknesses inspires others to take full advantage of the time they have left in life. If you are younger, Praise God if this inspires you because you have life left. If you are older, that’s okay, together we can correct and not fret about yesterday, not be concerned with tomorrow, but make a difference today. After all, today is what matters for many, it matters for us. Let’s not waste anymore time.

The following link is of the video Wasted Days, it will definitely cause one to think about the content of this posting. 

 John Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen - Wasted Days (Official Video) - YouTube

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