CHARLO, New Brunswick, February 1, 2024 – There are so many things that we can do, but only one thing that we should do. We need to be careful, we believers, to focus on that one thing and ignore the rest.

The world is full of noise and distractions that lead us astray, or the world will allow us just a little tiny bit of time to spend on that one thing, just a teensy tiny bit of time, just enough so that we can comfort ourselves thinking we did it, all the while making silent vows to spend more time on it later. The world is very good at grabbing and holding our attention – grabbing and holding us – and in so doing keeping us from doing the only thing that matters. Did you know that the sole purpose of the world is to redirect our attention away from God? By “the world”, I don’t mean God’s creation (God made his creation for our comfort and joy); by “the world”, I mean Satan’s creation; I mean all things fake and lies.

One of the for me unexpected joys of aging is being able to break through the noise and ignore what has no value. I now have no trouble saying “No” when it’s warranted. When I was younger, I wanted to please everyone and put a smile on their face, and so many a time I would say “Yes” when I should have said “No”. Many an hour I spent doing things I shouldn’t have done with nothing to show for it but regret and bad memories. I don’t do that anymore. I focus on doing that one thing and that one thing only. I get more frowns now than smiles, more grumbles than grins, but I don’t care. And that’s another unexpected joy of aging – not caring what people think of what you do or what you don’t.

Tomorrow is not a given. Even the rest of today is not a given. The older you get, the more you realize this truth is meant for you. At some point, your number is up, and I sure as heck don’t want mine being up when I’m doing something other than that one thing that I know I should be doing. I’d definitely have some splainin’ to do if that happened. And God would likely remind me that I should have known better – I of all people should have known better – but at that point it would be too late.

The notion of “too late” is not something that strikes you when you’re younger. Time stretches before you, and with it the presumed assurance of having plenty of time yet for redo’s. If it doesn’t work this time, we’ll try it again next time; if it doesn’t work next time, we’ll try something else. There’s always a nearly infinite amount of time for do’s and redo’s when you’re younger. But when you’re older, time is short. Years are short. Days fly by. There might not be time for a redo, so you’ve got to get it right the first time around.

But how can you always get it right the first time around?

Here’s how: You do that one thing. You focus on that one thing. Your whole world becomes that one thing, that pearl of greatest price that Jesus told us about, the one that you sell everything you have in order to buy. If you focus on that one thing, you’ll get everything right the first time around and you won’t have to worry about regrets or redo’s. You won’t even have to worry about time because you’ll know that time is just something that passes, like everything else in the world, just something that passes and then is gone.

When you focus on that one thing, there is no time… until one day there really is no more time.

And you’re Home.