‘Stopping the Clock”

At one of my oldest son’s basketball games, my youngest son had asked how long we had until the buzzer went off. I tried to explain that while each period was divided into 7 minutes, those 7 minutes could actually take 20-30 minutes (if not more) to run out as the clock had to be stopped so often for various obstructions.

Today, my kids were all asking me to do things with them when I told them that I needed another 15 minutes to finish something I had started earlier that morning hoping to have had finished before they even woke but had been interrupted. About 30 minutes into it, they said the proverbial, “Mom, you said . . . “ referring to the ‘ONLY 15 MINUTES’ part. I turned table and referenced that 7 minutes in a game thing and said that DUE to the constant interruptions – especially those that were due to actual ‘FOULS’ made on each other that very morning – that my 15 minutes had gotten stretched . . . and very much in the manner of a real game . . . I would indeed be using up all my clock time. They didn’t necessarily like this stance, but they couldn’t very well argue. Oddly enough, the remaining minutes worked out to be close to real time.

This started that dig as I wondered more about all the times we must stop the clock because of our actions.

I believe that everyone has an ordained plan. That these plans are set in motion as we come into this world, and that we often knock ourself off these plans due to the many decisions we make along the way. Until now, while I often think of the clock . . . I never really considered the buzzer – but isn’t that what everything always boils down to in the end . . . TIME REMAINING???

I imagined MY many choices – completely stupid, some of them as I had been quite the hot-head growing up – that must have caused many a clock to stop as God blew a whistle on my many fouls. At times, I feel He must have whistled me right out of the game as I reached my 5-foul limit within the first few minutes of a new endeavor. And just like the players are hopefully taught, tough call or not, one is not supposed to argue the call least he be thrown out for un-sportsmanship. Usually the one penalty is followed by another personal one as the player now has to answer to the coach for getting tossed out.

I began to wonder even further – just how many minutes I have added to my ongoing journey to finding the Promise Land? The desert walk becomes so very long at times.

Not one to cry over spilled milk, I continue to move forward with hopefully greater understanding of how the game is really to be played. I work diligently on understanding the rules and practice often to hone my skills. I think again to the game as I realize that those last few seconds are usually the most exciting as it is not so much what is going on IN the game but rather what will be recorded AFTER that buzzer goes off.

Until next time . . .