Has Time Been Lost?

Well, I don’t know about you, but in my case I think the honest answer would have to be: Yes. Looking back on my journey through life thus far, quite a lot of time has definitely been lost, although I certainly don’t believe that time lost should automatically be equated with time wasted. Indeed, there is much about which I can say (in the words of an old friend of my father’s when I thanked him for travelling such a long way to come to my father's funeral in December 2004): “I wouldn’t have missed it.” He wasn’t trying to be funny, but I loved the way his sense of humour shone through even when he was making a serious point.

He’s a Baptist minister who served as a missionary for many years and has also officiated at services for another denomination. Maybe that’s why he was once able to get away with telling a joke which (according to my father) went something like this:

Question: If an elephant eats a Baptist on Monday, a Methodist on Tuesday, a Roman Catholic on Wednesday, a Presbyterian on Thursday and a Salvationist on Friday, what does he have on Saturday?
Answer: An ecumenical movement.

Yes, there’s “... a time to laugh; a time to mourn, ...” (Ecclesiastes 3:4). At the funeral we managed to do both, and I’m sure my Dad would have approved.

In my experience, there’s also a time to kick yourself. More on that another time.