Opinion

The Slow Passage of a long time

The Mt. Hope Scrolls

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Man! I can hardly believe it happened. I just had my 46th wedding anniversary. Beth gets all the credit. She had to do all the hard work.

Everybody is asking the same question. Where did the time go? It’s really an easy answer. All that time passed by with just little ticks of time. Have you raised some children? Thirty years slipped by with kindergarten, schools, and all sorts of appointments. Places to go and things to see. Your job took up many years. It doesn’t take long to realize that your new house has been repainted twice and had the roof repaired also. It needs painting again but you can’t believe that fifteen years have slipped by since all the painters were here.

The point of all this is to show how just some tiny little work leads to some big things. One of my writing friends calls me to ask how book projects are going. We both have written the same number of books. (7) We are both trying to get the jump on the eighth book. Our writing paths are a little different but we both have been putting out books at about the same rate. In the last twenty years, we have gotten seven books published. 

Worse, we have known each other for thirty years. The common thread in our writing was how long some of this took. My second back took me thirty-five years to get written down. It was a story that took years to mull over and refine and finally get down. 

My friend tells the same story. He has worked on some things for many years. Finally, all that work paid off for him as well. 

That is the amazing part of this story. Some of the writing was done with the most minuscule effort. Sometimes only a sentence was written down. Sometimes only a phrase was put on a scrap of paper and carried around. Incredibly the little steps taken over the last twenty years have created all these books. Now don’t think I’m bragging too much. None of these books are being made into movies and Stephen King and John Grisham don’t answer my calls. Still it is fun to see what has been accomplished over the years.

Kids go to school and twenty years later they are Doctors, lawyers, businessmen, or even astronauts. Just a tiny bit of work each day makes for some great accomplishments.

Now comes some hard parts. The realization that there is still a lot to do and the next twenty years will come a lot faster. Also, there is the nagging doubt that you might not be here for the next twenty years.

There is hope though. All big things start with the first little things. You know my favorite line, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” While you are pondering all this,, take the first little step. Whatever it is you’ve been wanting to do, get out there and do it. 

That time is passing and will pass whether you like it or not. Those little inconsequential things you do add up and could become your greatest accomplishment.