THE NEW AGE--Article--Janraury 1990--ARALEXAN.JAN




                               Time


                     MONROE K. ALEXANDER, 33
          Sovereign Grand Inspector General in New Mexico
          P.O. Box 4355, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87502-4355


     Perhaps you may remember (or have heard of) the old newsreel 
item at the local movie theatre entitled "Time Marches On?"  We 
realize that there is almost always more than one way of 
considering any one given thing, including time.  For example, my 
10th-grade high school history teacher, Mr. Wesley Cook, in my 
hometown of Clayton, New Mexico, taught us that contrary to the 
news feature "Time Marches On," that time is; man marches on!
     In our Constituent Lodges in the "Land of Enchantment" (New 
Mexico), we say the following words to our Brethren when they 
receive their 25-Year certificates and lapel pins:

          "Time is such a fickle thing:
               'Twill seem to pause for our delight
          And then with thrice the speed of light
               We find that it has taken wing!"

     Every Sunday in my church (and hopefully much more often), 
we offer thanks and praise to God for ourselves, our time and our 
possessions, all signs of His gracious love.  Further, the Bible 
tells us that, with God, "a thousand years is as a day, and a day 
is as a thousand years!"  One definition of "eternity" can be 
described as that period of time it would take a hummingbird to 
carry all the solid matter of the Earth, one tiny bit per trip, 
to the far end of the universe and, when finished, do the same, 
drop by drop, one drop per trip, with all the water in all the 
oceans, seas, rivers and lakes on God's beautiful creation until 
there was nothing left.
     Time, of all things, is probably the most neglected and the 
most regretted.  Nothing can be done about it and nothing can be 
done without it.  Nothing is longer, for time is a measure of 
eternity, and yet, nothing is shorter, because our time is not 
enough for us to accomplish all our hopes and dreams and plans in 
any one lifetime.
     Science writer Nigel Calder, trying to convey the sense of 
time, asks us to think of our Earth as a lady 46 years old, with 
each of her "years" representing 1 million centuries:

          The dinosaurs passed away eight months ago...In the 
          middle of last week, in Africa, some man-like apes 
          turned into ape-like men...Just over four hours have 
          elapsed since a new species calling itself Homo-Sapiens 
          started chasing the other animals, and in the last hour 
          it has invented agriculture and settled down...A 
          quarter of an hour ago, Moses led his people to 
          safety...and about five minutes later Jesus was 
          preaching on a hill...Just one minute has passed since 
          Man began his industrial revolution.
     In the words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in 
Jerusalem:

          To every thing there is a season, and a time to every 
          purpose under the heaven:
          A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, 
          and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time   
          to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down,and a 
          time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; 
          a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast 
          away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a 
          time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 
          a time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and 
          a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; 
          a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to 
          love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of 
          peace. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 KJV).

     May we all do the very best with the time we have; and may 
we Freemasons remember that we should at all times and in all 
places, offer thanks and praise to God, from whom all blessings 
flow; and in the timely words of the great American poet Robert 
Frost, that we do indeed "have promises to keep, and miles to go 
before we sleep, and miles to go before we sleep."





