A Time to Every Purpose

Many centuries ago it was said: “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;…A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to keep and a time to cast away;…there is a time…for every purpose and for every work”⎯and getting too far off the timetable may take the edge of enjoyment from almost anything. In some things, getting too far ahead of schedule may be about as hazardous as getting too far behind: for example, giving a youngster a car when he should still be balancing a bicycle can be about as hazardous as giving a boy a stick of dynamite when he is scarcely safe with a firecracker. Letting youth grow old too early dulls the edge of enjoyment. We can’t keep adding more and more spice to the food or soon there will be no pleasure in any simple taste. A worn and worldly look on the face of a youngster is a pitiable picture. There is another side to this subject which concerns itself with timetables that are too much retarded: To youth especially it should be said that there is a time for preparation and a time for performance. And if we don’t use the years of our youth to prepare for what we want to do in life, preparation becomes increasingly difficult and discouraging. It is hard enough to win a race when we get an even start. But if we don’t begin with the gun, the going can be very discouraging. It wouldn’t always be true to say that no one can ever make up for lost time. But some important part of life passes every day, and every day that we postpone what we should have done sooner adds a penalty to our performance. Again, letting the schedule get too far ahead dulls the edge of every enjoyment but letting it get too far behind means missing much. Life itself is a period both of preparation and of performance for an every-unfolding future. And young people (and older ones also) would do well to learn to look at the timetable.