There is the joke about a fellow who comes across the verse in Psalms that declares "in Your (G-d's) eyes 1,000 years is like one day." So he thinks, if His day is like our 1,000 years, then His penny must be like our million dollars. He prays to G-d saying "All I ask from You is a penny." A moment later he hears a Heavenly voice reply "I'll take care of that tomorrow."
Earlier this week I took my daughter to her orthodontist appointment. Knowing that I would have about an hour's wait, I came armed with daily study material and my blackberry so that I would make efficient (with the blackberry - yeah right!) use of my waiting time. Looking around the waiting room I observed that there were different types of people. Some came prepared with magazines or books, others chatted on their phones, and some were content to just sit there doing nothing. It brought to mind a teaching that I read a day before in a book called Hayom Yom - which has a thought for each day.
"Time must be guarded. It is urgent to "accept the yoke of Torah." Every bit of time, every day that passes, is not just a day but a life's concern. Days go by; as the Talmud says, "A day enters and a day departs, a week enters etc.,... a month etc.,... a year etc.,..." quoting the Alter Rebbe: A summer day and a winter night are a year."
Time plays such a central role in our daily lives. We are constantly invoking time. We ask "what time is it?." We declare, "I just don't have time." While time is essentially free, we still always hear the phrase "time is money." A friend of mine who was a prominent businessman used to tell me that when he called his lawyer and the lawyer would ask "how are you" he would reply "on your time or mine." Yet there is another expression that we use, "killing time." That is actually very accurate. Time is a precious gift and when we do not utilize it properly we are indeed "killing time."
One of the beautiful things about our ritual obligations is that most of them are connected to time. There is a limited time frame in which to say the Shema in the morning and at night. There are the times for prayer. Time for Shabbat and holidays. We are bound by sunset and nightfall, dawn and sunrise. A glance at our online calendar (www.chabadneworleans.com/calendar) will show a list of Halachic times (earliest time for tefillin, latest time for Shema etc.) that define many of our ritual obligations. This drives home the importance of utilizing the gift of time.
When people learn to utilize time, they discover that there is alot more of it to use for the things in life for which they never had time. The famed 13th century sage, Rashba (Shlomo Ibn Aderet) headed a great school of Talmudic study in which he lectured daily. He was also a busy financier. Yet he attested to the fact that took a lengthy walk every day. It was all about proper utilization of time.
The bottom line is that time is a gift and an ally, when utilized well. It becomes an enemy when we do not. The Zohar says that every single day has its task that needs to be completed by each of us. Let us not let time down.