Last week I had the joy (not!) of being called in as a prospective court juror. I was told that this was a great responsiblity and an important civic duty (or at least that’s what a lawyer friend assured me). Hence, I dutifully went to the court house on University Avenue along with several hundred others to participate in bestowing justice—all of us holding our heads up high as faithful citizens of this great land.
The reality: we were herded into a rather unfortunate room with awful neon lighting where we sat and sat and sat some more…for hours with no explanation or information, let alone a drop of coffee! Hours of waiting until we were ready to pull out our hair (or the hair of the person sitting next to us…in my case the man talking to me as if we were long lost friends and making it impossible to read!), at which point we were finally called into a court room where charges were read out against a frightened young man. I didn’t feel much like I was in the service of some great cause.
Ultimately, I wasn’t chosen. But a week was lost and I can’t really say that my participation engendered any satisfying level of justice. I’m sorry for the young man and sorry for whatever transpired, landing him in such a place—details I will never know. But my presence on University Avenue didn’t seem to make much of a difference no matter what they tell me!
Time. Lost time. Make the most of your time. I hear the apostle Paul saying, ‘Make the most of your time , because the days are evil’—and related passages like, ’Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord’ and ‘Understand what the will of the Lord is.’ Such sayings speak to the importance…the preciousness of time. Much needs to be done but the hours keep slipping away!
Not a drop of time should be lost let alone a week. If I can lay hold of my day with greater purpose and focus because of my lost week…then perhaps it wasn’t in vain. (If not it was a waste—a bloody awful week I would wish on no one!) Seize the moment. Carpe Diem. Enjoy the gift of your time and use it well. Unlike the Widow of Zarephath, our jar of resources/time does run out so let us hear St. Paul anew and ‘make the most of our time!’