It’s a countdown till you start,
Just one countdown out of many
From that first breath out of the womb
Then, strangely, we change the order.
It’s now time to count up
Until that last breath down yonder.
We count up longer than we count down.
By the entity we call “time.”
It had an even longer-ago start. We can’t imagine
It may never reach a stop. Think that one through.
Our trips around the sun are celebrated
From when we breathed until we are no more.
But the breaths between those bookends
Tell a bigger story of our race with time.
It takes a good decade or two
Until we are truly ready to live
Making choices along the way
Good, Bad, or even Indifferent.
Those years of decisions and choices
Sets the stage for even more lives to follow
As we follow others to our last setting sun
We want to do our Good, Better, then Best trilogy.
Ride the waves of success, glory, or failure
In our Infinitesimal period of time
There’s no comparison to others
This race is totally mine.
I’ve been on 68-plus trips around the sun
Only now do I feel the pace
Of trying to get better and the best
Living Life, Making a Difference, Leaving a Mark.
Before my race of time is complete
I’ve still a few years to work better and smarter
Not to Intelligize the results for others
But satisfy me. I know what my timely race is for.
Ecclesiastes 12:9-14 NKJV
And moreover, because the Preacher was wise,
he still taught the people knowledge;
yes, he pondered and sought out
and set in order many proverbs.
The Preacher sought to find acceptable words;
and what was written was upright—words of truth.
The words of the wise are like goads,
and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails,
given by one Shepherd.
And further, my son, be admonished by these.
Of making many books there is no end,
and much study is wearisome to the flesh.
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:
Fear God and keep His commandments,
For this is man’s all.
For God will bring every work into judgment,
Including every secret thing,
Whether good or evil.
