Mere seconds are all that is necessary to impact a life, an event or an entire world. Although there may be days, weeks, months or even years leading up to those few precious moments, It only takes a few seconds for the final implementation. The simple push of a button could end society as we now know it. The preparation for that final moment has really taken decades to accomplish. The necessities of technology and desire for control over people has continually enhanced the ability to destroy one another. An insult, a misguided speculation, a perceived disrespect; any of these could be enough to trigger the final response. It might be a one minute power up and a thirty second countdown. How many impacts would be felt? How many eternities could be started?
But that has not yet happened. The nations of the world bicker and squabble, rise and fall, and coexist in an uneasy relationship of fear and mistrust. Even that did not arise suddenly but from decades and in some cases centuries of intermeddling. But smaller than nations are internal rivalries. Spats over resources or commodities can divide people down the very family level. Boundary lines and control of substances which impact others are dangerous separating factors which need to be given adequate attention to prevent disaster. Just a spark will ignite dry tinder. A single blow will split a diamond. Just one cup of water can turn the world around. The possibilities are immense. The opportunities are limitless.
In a minute and a half a hundred thoughts can be considered. But only one is best. And the right one needs to be chosen.
These are dark dismal thoughts offering little hope for a joyful future. Yet they are not necessarily the future. Nor do they need to represent our present. The past is. It is past. Every minute and a half in the past was used to make the lives and events which were, into the present. And in our present we can change the course of history or smooth out the rough places for generations to come. The greatest evil mankind can accomplish requires but seconds to engage. However given a minute and a half to gain insight, obtain different viewpoints or reflect on what might be, we might forestall the evil and reconcile to peace, all who are at odds. A word of encouragement gained in a short conversation can bring a kinder perspective than was available a minute and a half ago.
Knowing that the circumstances in our lives can be troubling gives opportunity for us to still troubled waters. In a short minute and a half phone call you tell someone five times that they are loved, cared for, thought about and valued. You might empathize with their struggle even though it is not your burden. Or borrow a word from the Bible to remind them that they are highly favored. A minute and a half invested into the ones closest to you might return joys and pleasures worthy of your most powerful efforts.
But invested into the life of one you barely know, it might bring the treasures of heaven raining down. Our sarcastic, self-defeatist doom and gloom attitude glibly says “No good deed will go unrewarded”. Such childish narcissistic dribble is a waste for those wanting to proclaim a minute and a half victory.
Cheer up your Pastor. Bring a sparkle to the eye of your waitress. Put a lift in the step of that nurse or physician. It is not that words force someone to be cheerful. Nor can just proclaiming something to be so, cause the forces of nature or the Spirit of God to come to your beckon whim and call. But a wife can cheer her husband and a husband can empower his wife with a minute and a half of “I LOVE YOU”. Let me take you to a far more distant world. When was the last time you just stared up at the stars and told God that you loved Him for a minute and a half? Is it possible that you have never just said “Thank You Lord” for a minute and a half?
None of this is about the power of positive speaking. Although there is something extremely eye opening in positive reinforcement. It is however, all about the minute and a half. How many breaths of fresh air? How many heart beats? How many blinks of the eye or scratches of the head? How many times in a minute and a half will that quasar, billions of lights years away, blink out its twinkling light to your receiving eyes?
It cannot be held and saved for later. Time marches on and is spent as it passes. Each new minute and a half has been preceded by a previous one and will be followed by another. They will not end until the One who created time says there is time no more. So our choice is to use each one haphazardly and frivolously, if that is our desire. Or, (pause for effect here), or we can embrace the coming minute and a half with the absolute confidence that there is a purpose in it and we have been brought to this moment in time for His purpose. So that what we do or say or think or accomplish in the chosen minute and a half, will in either consequence, bring glory to the maker of time.
Lord, You are the best, my all, my hope, my example, my one true desire, my clarity and my strong tower of defense. To You, I bring this minute and a half. I seek guidance and wisdom to use it in such a way that the absolute highest purpose is achieved. I give you complete authority over my thoughts, my physical being, even my unknown desires, so that you may receive all honor and glory and praise. I to wish for you to increase and for myself to decrease in importance, in contribution, in every aspect of your use of my next minute and a half. And when you get done with that one Lord, the next one will be ready too.