Don't be wasteful

Some people like to talk about how other people wasted their lives especially when those people (being talked about) have passed on. If you ask me, that is a waste of words and even a waste of time. What value is that information to a dead person? Ok, maybe the intention is to warn others i.e. those of us still living, not to live like that person did (or didn't). I will not dispute that as a reason but I'll then ask, what did the speaker do to help the person make better use of their time/life?

Let me digress a bit and talk about those who go through life without really living fully or enjoying it...the unfortunate thing is some of them never realize that. Have you ever received anything that you want to "keep" and use on that right day/moment? Well I have. Now, I'm not saying that is bad however, the Bible tells us that no-one has been promised tomorrow.* I remember chatting with a group of ladies and we talked about how we keep some outfits for that special event that may never come or which comes after we've left that location. I shared how my mum kept the lovely dinner sets she got at their wedding and I found them when cleaning out the things in storage in our home decades later. As you'd expect, they crumbled as I picked them up - so no one was able to use let alone "enjoy" them. Of course that taught me a lesson - to enjoy the moments I have and that extends beyond the things I have to the people God places around me. Fact of life: "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present."**

Indeed it is a present and I've said more than once that: Wasting time = wasting life.
Every moment you have is yours for that moment - once it's past it is the past forever.
George M. Adams put it differently:

"We cannot waste time. We can only waste ourselves." (God forbid!)

If we all live in that consciousness, I'm sure there would be fewer (unspoken) euologies of people who wasted their lives. Ephesians 5:15-16a tells us to:

"...Be careful how you live.

Live as men who are wise and not foolish.

Make the best use of your time."***

 

If you're not sure how best to live, you can pray like David did:

"Teach us to use wisely all the time we have."****

 

It is my prayer that we all all make the most of our time on earth...like Edward J. Stieglitz said:
"The important thing is not how many years in your life but how much life in your years."

Many people have said a lot about how we (should) live. So far, one of the best (pieces of advice) you can live by is:

"Live every day as if it were going to be your last; for one day you're sure to be right."*****

 

 
References:
*Prov 27:1 - Never boast about tomorrow. You don't know what will happen between now and then. (Good News Translation)
**Bill Keane
***New Life Version
****Contemporary English Version
*****Harry "Breaker" Harbord Morant