A striking difference

  • Published
  • By Chaplain Steve Torgerson
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Chaplain
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  What wizard came up with the mathematics of bowling? If you knock down nine pins per frame, you get 90. If you knock down ten you get 300! A 12-pin difference triples your score!

Life is like that too. A little extra adds up. Almost everyone I know has too much to do. Going to work, driving home, picking up groceries, making supper, helping the kids with their homework and reading a bedtime story pretty much takes up the whole day. Even the weekends can be filled with mowing the grass, washing the car, doing the laundry etc. We're busy. If your spouse is deployed or you're a single parent you deserve a medal just for getting the essentials done.

Seemingly, 90 percent of life is taken up by the things we have to do. But there is more. How does one get it?

I heard of a fellow who, just before bedtime, no matter how late it is, takes 10 minutes to read classical literature. In a few years he'd read all of Shakespeare, Milton and several Russian authors. Think of the richness added to his life.

My friend, Barry Black, chaplain to the U.S. Senate, has earned two doctorates and several other degrees. Yet, he has fine children and his wife, Brenda, keeps him grounded. He has a gift for making his minutes count. He listens to educational/inspirational CDs on his way to and from work. He shared that he always carries a small Bible in his pocket for when he's stuck in a long line. He made me laugh when he said, "Now the Devil makes sure I don't get in any lines."

There are families that turn off the TV when they gather for meals. Dinnertime is for discussing the day's events. Then they spend 15 to 30 minutes, before going to bed, reading stories and talking about things that clarify family values. Juvenile detention centers would be scarcer than agreeable haircuts on "televangelists" if every family did.

Time is the great equalizer. Everyone gets the same amount. It is what we do with the "extra" time that measures success. Perfect games are rare but there are several things we can do that make a striking difference.