Do you remember when I used to read poems and essays in our family devotions? I credit my BJU English and Speech teachers for creating a desire to read and memorize good literature. As one who minored in speech I had to memorize long portions of Tennyson’s “Enoch Arden” and a large portion of “The Yearling.” These stick out in my mind because of the lengthy portion memorized, but I was exposed to many other poets and their works both secular and sacred. Every father wants to see his sons imitate good things they have learned from their dads, but in my case I think somewhere that love for poetry has not been passed on to my sons or sons-in-law. I’m glad that at least one grandson has memorized some of the poems I used to read to you while sitting around the kitchen table. He will be reciting “A Fence at the Top of the Hill or an Ambulance at the Bottom?” next week in a public meeting. Remember that one? (A lesson is there that would be good to learn in Washington DC.)
You dads may be thinking that reading and memorizing Scripture is all that is needed. Certainly that is primary, but taking time to read biographies of godly men like Adoniram Judson, William Carey, Hudson Taylor, John Paton, and Robert McCheyne (these names should sound familiar) and instilling a love for good poetry and other classic writings would not hurt your children.
I’m in the midst of transcribing 50 years of my diaries onto my computer. This week I noted that on May 17, 1976, “I read the kids Ronald Reagan’s March 31st message to the nation. We discussed politics for a long time.” Only 33 years left to transcribe with this finger! (I can no longer type since I can’t open my left hand.) I know you don’t have time for all this. I can appreciate that, but I also know that as you grow older time goes by more rapidly, and what can be sadder than to look back over the years with regret! While commercial fishing as a deckhand about 20 years ago I heard a grizzled old sea captain say over the VHF radio to another captain, “My biggest regret in life is that I didn’t spend more time with my kids”. Video games and the TV are a poor substitute for hands-on time with your children.
I still have a love for reading and read a poem every day but now I have the added advantage of “googling” the author. Yesterday I googled “Hannah More” (1745-1833) since I am including her treatise on “Redeeming the Time" in this letter. After a tumultuous life which included several broken engagements, Miss More was converted at the age of 40. “Her religious conversion was not a sudden event that cannot be precisely dated, it nevertheless changed her life. Two of her new friends were John Newton (Amazing Grace) and Member of Parliament Wm. Wilberforce.…Her poem “Slavery” was instrumental in the fight against slavery.…She was one of the most successful writers and perhaps the most influential woman of her day.” Her essay listed below left me convicted as I do not manage time very well in my old age.
Love, DAD
"Redeeming the time" Ephesians 5:16 by Hannah More
Christians should especially be on their guard against a spirit of idleness, and a slovenly habitual wasting of time. We must guard against a habitual frivolousness at home; and an abundance of unprofitable small-talk, idle reading, inane drowsiness, and a quiet and dull frittering away of time. We must seriously consider--what a large portion of life we have unwisely squandered; what days and nights we have wasted, if not sinfully--yet selfishly; if not loaded with evil--yet destitute of good. In the day of judgment, the thin disguise which our treacherous heart now casts over vanity and sloth, will then be torn off. We are guilty of the strange inconsistency of being most wasteful of what we best love--and of throwing away what we most fear to lose--that TIME of which life is made up. It is not so much a lack of time--as a wasting of our time--which prevents life from answering all the ends for which God has given it to us. Few things make us so useful of the world, as the prudent use of our precious time. We should not only be careful not to waste our own time--but that others do not rob us of it! The "stealing of our purse" is a serious wrong to us. But the "stealing of our time" should grieve us even more! Pilfering of another's time is a felony for which no restitution can be made--for time is not only invaluable, but irrecoverable! Every particle of time is valuable. No day can be insignificant--when every day is to be accounted for. Each one possesses weight and importance. What a scene will open upon us, when, from our eternal state--we shall look back on the use we have made of time--when we shall take a clear retrospect of all we have done, and all we ought to have done! "Almighty God, I adore Your infinite patience, which has not cut me off in the midst of my follies. Let me no longer abuse that precious treasure, time. Let me bid adieu to all those vain amusements, those trifling entertainments and sinful diversions--which have robbed me of many valuable hours. Let me no longer waste my time in ease and pleasure, in unprofitable studies and conversation; but grant, that by moderation and temperance in my enjoyments, I may be able to give a good account of it in the day of judgment, and be accepted in and through the merits of Jesus Christ, my only mediator and advocate. Amen."
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