Frank J. Buchman

Cowboy • Horseman • Writer

Some Opportunities Will Only Come Once

“Just do it.”

That’s the best response to most tasks at hand.

A number of years ago, it was a common prank so to speak for codgers, for lack of a better  definition, to walk around farm shows and the like with small round wooden   tokens in their pockets. They’d come up to somebody and ask, “Did you get around to it?” The queried one with a puzzled look would shrug shoulders and shake his head “No.”


The inquisitor with an ornery grin would pull one of those plug nickels initialed with “to it”out, give it to the other and walk away not saying anything. It’d take a time for the recipient to figure out his gift, and then a smile would spread across his face, too. As often as it happened, the scenario was always the same. It was good clean redneck fun.

However, getting around to doing a task no matter how big or minute is something we most have procrastinated more often than we should. Actually, the small chores are   frequently the things we put off doing more often than the more stringent ones.

It can be as simple as picking up a piece of litter on the floor or a scrap of notebook paper filled with worthless doodles on one side of the desk. Not that they really bother anything, but the worthless piece might be there for days or weeks when a simple almost effortless action could put it in the trash can. Why are so many people
that way?

That’s difficult to answer, but it is a certain fact. We have put off putting away a piece of tack until it has become deteriorated. A pair of pliers behind the shop was right   where we left them and had rusted to being unusable when we finally picked them   up

Likewise, there were simple story leads in the drawer that we were always going to do, but just put it off. Then it was outdated Or worst case situation, which has happened more than once, the person we really wanted to do a major story about had passed away.

Perhaps, it’s an inborn laziness of some folks like us, and we aren’t a loner for sure. There are those who never see the small things, because they are more concerned about the major things that need to be done and really are more important.

Of course, there are certain projects that one is asked, demanded or considers doing that do require more timely deliberation. The correct response might be “Don’t do it.”

More often, we haven’t done what we could have. That certain thing to say, person to see, phone call to make, letter to write, horse to buy and on and on. We certainly   wish we would have, but now it is too late. The opportunity passed. We will never have another chance.

It reminds us of Ecclesiastes 9:7: “Seize life. Make the most of each one. Whatever turns up, grab it and do it. This is your only chance at it.” Likewise is Ephesians 5:11: “Make the most of every chance you get.”  Yet, the most important is Deuteronomy 13:4: “Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him and keep his commandments.” We must follow Psalm 16.5: “My choice is you, God, first and
only.”

+++ALLELUIA+++

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