My Free Lunch

I watched the Superbowl Commercials with anxious excitement. I was a little disappointed with some, but was genuinely humored by others. One commercial was from Denny's, and they advertised that today (Feb 3) they would be giving away a free Grand Slam breakfast to every American. I figured it would be crowded as I drove to the diner today. I anticipated waiting maybe twenty or thirty minutes. I waited close to two hours! It sure paid off though. I got two big pancakes, two strips of bacon, two sausage links, and two eggs (over-easy of course). The line packed the foyer of the diner and wrapped all the way around the outside of the building. It was insane! It was no scam either, the Grand Slam costed me $0.00! And people say that there's no such thing as a free lunch... For the producer, I'm sure it costs something, but for the consumer, completely free: WAIT...or wasn't it?

I've recently been understanding the value of time management. After listening to an Andy Stanley message, I've been trying to improve my skills in that department. Time is so valuable. We tend to lose track of it in the busyness of life. As silly and perhaps ridiculous as this sounds, my lunch did cost me something today. It cost me two hours. It was a two hours well spent, enjoying the experience with hundreds of others on a curb outside. But are there other places in our lives where we submit an hour or two to meaningless tasks. I'm not criticizing the human desire and NEED for leisure or recreation. Relaxation is a necessity. I'm simply submitting the idea that sometimes we get carried away in meaningless tasks. My trip to Denny's was actually fun, in a goofy way, so I wouldn't merit that with the brand of worthless. But I would pin the worthless tag on the two hours I spent on YouTube last night when I could have been preparing for the youth group on Wednesday night.

I guess what I'm trying to say is this:

Time is currency... Spend it, invest it, manage it, budget it, but whatever you do, don't waste it. It's important to note that time, unlike money, cannot be returned with a receipt of purchase. When we count out our 1's, 10's, or 20's to lay them down on the counter of linear forward time, we must realize that there is a sign posted above the register declaring "No refunds, no exchanges, no returns." On the other end of the spectrum, time, unlike money, cannot be saved or stored up. You cannot choose to lay your head down two hours early every night for the rest of your life to discover that at the end of your life, when you wish to redeem all the hours saved to extend your life, your pension will not prevail.