LETTERS: SO MUCH TO DO WITH SO LITTLE TIME LEFT TO DO IT ALL

To the editor:

Recently a co-worker celebrated his birthday where I work. It was his 37th birthday. I told him I had been married for almost that number of years and it made me feel old. He looked at me with the most serious expression I have ever observed and said, "Ron, you are old."

This caused me to give thought to the subject of my age. Was it true? Had I became an old person? Before the day was over I found myself having a conversation with another co-worker who has lived as long as I have plus a year or two. "Do you find it amazing how fast the years have gone," I asked. He looked at me with the same expression I had seen that morning and said, "If you want to put it into perspective, think about this: You and I have 20 more summers."

Twenty more summers to live, I pondered, and even that is not certain. Years pass like turning a page in a book, and they slip away like grasping a handful of oil. Then this undeniable truth hit me: How little I have done with the years I have had, and how little I am doing with the time I have now. I heard myself praying, "God forgive me, and show me this day the work you would have me to do."

RON FARROW

Cape Girardeau