THE RIGHT USE OF TIME.
Great value of moments. An old maxim. Wasting shreds of time. Time more
valuable than money. What are the most useful charities. Doing good by
proxy. Value of time for reflection. Doing nothing. Rendering an
account of our time at the last tribunal.
On this subject--the right use of time--sermons, not to say volumes,
without number, have been written; and yet it is still true, as an
eminent poet has well said, that the individual "is yet unborn who duly
weighs an hour."
But my business is not so much to dwell at large on the value of time
in its larger divisions, such as days and hours, as to urge, in the
first place, an attention to moments. "Take care of the pence," says an
old but just maxim, "and the pounds will take care of themselves;" and
it is somewhat so in regard to time. Take care of the moments, and the
hours and days will take care of themselves.
Not, indeed, that hours and even days are not wasted, and worse than
wasted; but the great error is, in disregarding the value and slighting
the use of those smaller fragments of which hours, days and years are
made. Show me the individual, young or old, who sets any thing like a
just value on moments of time, and you will show me the person who
values, in a proper manner, its larger divisions.
I have ventured upon this hackneyed subject, because I have often
thought that young women--more, if possible, than most other young
persons--need to be reminded of the unspeakable importance of moments.
It is only a minute or two, many will say, or seem to say; and so they
let time pass unemployed. But these leisure moments are frequently
recurring; and the more they are slighted and wasted, the more they
will be. And what is worse, she who frequently says, It is only a
minute-and who makes this serve as an apology for wasting it--will soon
extend the same apology to much larger portions of time. The current of
human nature is ever downward: let those who love improvement and
desire to be improved, remember it is so; and let them ever be mindful,
in this respect, of their danger.
There are thousands who suffer themselves to waste shreds of time which
might be applied to the attainment of knowledge--valuable knowledge--or
to the work of doing good in a world where so much good needs to be
done, who would not be willing to waste the smallest sum of money. I
would not speak lightly of the habit of wasting money; but it must be
admitted by all, that she who wastes, without remorse of conscience,
her precious moments which might be usefully employed--if not in
action, at least in conversation, or reading, or reflection--and yet
would not, on any account, waste a cent of money, is justly chargeable,
in a moral point of view, with straining out a gnat, and swallowing a
camel.
For it should never be forgotten, that however valuable money may be,
time is much more so. It is much more so, even as a means of doing
good. There are very many persons, it is true, who seem to think
otherwise. They seem not to think that they can do good with any thing
but money.
Let us reflect, however, that no charity is more truly valuable, than
visiting and aiding the sick, encouraging the depressed, instructing
the ignorant, &c. Now is not she who does the latter, more sure of
doing good than she who only gives the former? In the latter case, she
bestows the very thing which is truly needful; in the former case, she
only bestows that which is a means of doing good. These means may or
may not be properly applied; of this the donor cannot be certain. But
when, instead of giving money or doing good by proxy, she does it
herself, the work is done, and done in her own way: and if not done
well, she is responsible. She is not made, in that case, responsible
for her neighbors.
But is _all_ time wasted that is not spent in action, as some of my
remarks might seem to imply? By no means. I have already spoken, in
this chapter, of the use of time for reflection; and in a preceding
one, have dwelt more especially on the value of solitude at certain
seasons. What I mean to urge is, the folly of trifling away time in
absolutely doing nothing. There is a sort of listlessness--or, perhaps,
more properly, reverie--in which many indulge, which is as sinful as it
is unprofitable; and there are modes of thinking and subjects of
thought, which are, to say the least, unworthy of a rational,
intelligent and immortal spirit.
I am not sure that there are not times--very short seasons, I
mean--during our waking hours, even with those who are in tolerable
health, when we best serve God and our fellow men by doing absolutely
nothing at all. I am not sure, I say, that thus may not be the case.
Still, if it is so, we should be exceedingly careful not to run into
excess in this respect--an error which seems to be almost inevitable.
For one who spends too little time in doing nothing, it is believed a
thousand spend too much in this way. And let it never be forgotten,
that not only for every idle word, but for every misspent moment, we
are, according to Scripture, to render an account in the day when God
will judge the secrets of each heart, according to the gospel of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
How valuable--how immensely valuable--will a few, only, of those
moments which we now let slip with so much readiness, appear to us in
that great day! What would we not then give for them? Five minutes
here, spent in listlessness, or in doing absolutely nothing; five
there, spent in idle or wicked conversation; and five there, in
unnecessary attentions to our person or dress--how will the ghosts, as
it were, of these departed seasons, haunt and torture us! Though
willing to give worlds to recall them--not only for the sake of our own
souls, but for those of others--thousands of worlds cannot buy them.
No, not one solitary five minutes. Happy is she who "wastes not," that
she may "want not," here or hereafter.