Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Redeem the Time #T

Monday morning BBBH left the premises with the announcement that she was "going shopping; I'll see you when I see you."

This rather left me at loose ends in an empty house.  Oh, I did have a load of laundry in the washer and a load in the dryer, so I was destined to have a few minutes of productive time.  What else to do?  Ah, peanut butter cookies.  I ripped a recipe from a BH&G that was lying around and gathered the required ingredients.

I do not cook, but Beautiful tells me (often) "If you can read, you can cook."  I'm not about to let that dictum reach the stage of verification, but I don't mind making cookies or candy on occasion, and I have been know to bake a cake now and then.

The details would only bore you, thus it is sufficient to say that the cookies were baked, the kitchen cleaned up, and the laundry folded by the time the spouse arrived home.

What a good boy am I.

The point?  Surely not to fish for your approbation or admiration.  But go ahead, if you wish.  Rather it is this.  I was thinking of an expression, probably biblical1, which my father used quite often.  "Redeem the time," he would say.  I suspect, looking back through the tunnel of time, that often his point was simply that I was a sluggard, or at best I was wasting good time which might be better utilized.  When I was twelve, fourteen, seventeen, or whatever, I suspect that I had little enough grasp of the true value of the time we are allotted.  I may have taken his words as chastisement and received them with resentment on occasion.

That is one of the problems of youth.  In our youth, we have the strength and stamina for the tasks set before us, but we haven't the good sense to recognize the gift we have received in having been granted time.2

Now, Dad is gone and the time remaining to me is rushing past like a foehn wind down the east slope of the Rockies.  I have neither the strength nor the stamina, I have too little time.  What I have is the wisdom that comes with experience,but not time enough to avail myself of the benefit of that wisdom.

So, in an effort to "redeem the time," I may just bake more cookies, read more poetry, take more pictures.  Well, it's a thought.

1Ephesians 5:15-17
2Teenagers, sadly, are immortal in their own eyes.
3BBBH says it is true we learn by experience; but, we will never have that experience again.  So what do we do with the lesson learned?

16 comments:

Shelly said...

You redeemed your time admirably in making the cookies, and I'm sure they and the clean kitchen were much appreciated.

If only we could marry the admirable qualities of youth and older age.

Vee said...

Great thoughts on redeeming the time. Maybe people who knit or crochet while watching television or at a ball game had a dad who preached that.

(BTW, Hubby does not agree that those who can read a recipe can also make it. At this stage in his life I would just as soon he not try.)

Secondary Roads said...

Thanks for setting such a find example for younger men. Like me.

I usually end up in the office at the computer when wifey goes a wandering.

Anonymous said...

You offer much food for thought - I'll digest some and pass on a few others including the peanut butter cookies...

vanilla said...

Shelly, and they are so good, too!

Vee, those people fascinate me. Not only do they stitch, watch TV, but they can carry on a conversation as well.

Chuck, in truth, that is what I most often do, too.

Grace, thanks. I suspected the pb cookies might not be a favorite for you, so what kind may I make?

Pearl said...

And ain't that the truth?

Youth, they say, is wasted on the young.

And the older I get, the more I know this to be true.

Pearl

vanilla said...

Pearl, yes, yes it is. Moving along the time-line does change a person's point of view!

Lin said...

When I have free time, I just take a nap. With NO guilt either. Sometimes it's good to be useless.

vanilla said...

Lin,I am founder of the school that teaches that napping is redemption of time. Do it daily. :-o

Anonymous said...

Well if you like chocolate I have a wonderful recipe for double chocolate cookies - easy to make and oh so easy to eat!

vanilla said...

Grace, double chocolate? Win! win!

Anonymous said...

Scotch that - I found your email address - I'm in the middle of putting dinner together so I'll get it out late tonight or tomorrow morning!

vanilla said...

Grace, thanks! I will literally "scotch" the message to protect your e-address.

Anonymous said...

Odd phrase isn't it - It just popped from my mind to my fingers and thence to the keyboard...

Sharkbytes said...

I'll bet BBBH liked your method of redeeming the time. I think I'm finally past feeling guilty for some stretches of time in which I do nothing. (maybe)

vanilla said...

Shark, I think I may have gotten "points" for that one!

Never feel guilty about a well-deserved rest. Sometimes that is the best way to redeem the time.