TIME TODAY

 

When I was about eight years old,  I used to ride a train called (affectionally) the “Doodlebug” from my small hometown to another

small town where my piano teacher, Mrs. Phy lived.  I did this once a week, so that I must sit under her very strict instruction---and

when I say ‘strict’ I mean STRICT!  She had a ruler which she used to tap my hands whenever I made a mistake, and if I hadn’t practiced

like I should, she would certainly know it.  (Such a method might earn a piano teacher jail time nowadays).

 

 

 

So part of my childhood was lived in a state of fear whenever Saturday- piano-lesson-time neared. That’s been over seventy years

ago. But thinking of those days like they were dreaded “torture” I endured, I can now also remember the many opportunities that life would later put before me simply because a Mrs. Phy had trained my ten fingers so well.  They were to provide music for many an evangelist in their revivals and choir presentations as the years went by. 

 

I remember an incident that happened in the large airport in Singapore. We were sitting, waiting to board our plane. There was a baby grand piano being played by a man, which was not all that entertaining. He arose to leave. and when he did, my friends insisted I go take his place.  So I did, especially because I loved (and still do) baby grand pianos.  Used to playing gospel music, that is what I did, and all of a sudden the lobby almost froze...people stopped talking and moving about.  The place became almost reverent... like some church or catheral.  I think it was the shock at hearing two Christian songs being played, (Amazing Grace and Because He Lives), while rushing down the corridor of one of Asia’s largest airport.  But more than anything else—it was Mrs. Phy’s ruler that had made that moment possible.

 

~~~~~~~

 

“Time” is perhaps our most wasted, most undervalued, most neglected and misunderstood gifts in all of life. 

 

Life can bring us hurt, but the painful things we sometimes have to endure can later become a most prized possession. While we seldom think about it, time is can be busy scraping away our memories of pain, sweat and tears. On the other hand, it can be polishing out the beauty and worth found hidden in every moment of the time which God gave us, to hopefully bring Himself glory.

 

WE HAVE THIS MOMENT

Hold tight to the sound of the music of living,
Happy songs from the laughter of children at play;
Hold my hand as we run through the sweet fragrant meadows,
Making mem'ries of what was today.

Tiny voice that I hear is my little girl calling,
For Daddy to hear just what she has to say;
And my little son running there by the hillside,
May never be quite like today.

Tender words, gentle touch and a good cup of coffee,
And someone that loves me and wants me to stay;
Hold them near while they're here and don't wait for tomorrow,
To look back and wish for today.

Take the blue of the sky and the green of the forest,
And the gold and the brown of the freshly mown hay;
Add the pale shades of spring and the circus of autumn,
And weave you a lovely today.

We have this moment to hold in our hands
and to touch as it slips through our fingers like sand;
Yesterday's gone and tomorrow may never come,
But we have this moment today.

----WE HAVE THIS MOMENT by Gloria Gaither

When we while away our thoughts begruding our situations; when time’s value depends whether we had pleasure or not; or when we discarded God’s intentions for our pathway as irrevelant and went our own way, then time yields us either a  beautiful prized antique--- or a tortured memory which can only retain the painful thoughts about our personal“Mrs.Phy’s ruler”....

 

 

 

 

 

 

MARY E ADAMS