The Time You Still Have Choices

In the movie City Slickers, Mitch (Billy Crystal) is having a serious midlife crisis.  In a classic scene, Mitch shares with a group of kids some lessons about the passage of time and the power of choices.


     "Value this time kids because it's the time you still have choices. It goes by so fast. When you're a teenager, you think you can do anything, and you do. The 20's are a blur. In your 30's, you raise your family, you make a little money, and you think to yourself, 'What happened to my 20's?'

     "In your 40's, you grow a pot belly, you grow another chin, the music starts to get too loud, and one of your girlfriends from high school becomes a grandmother. In your 50's, you have a minor surgery. You call it a procedure, but it's a surgery. In your 60's, you'll have a major surgery. The music is still too loud but that doesn't matter because you can't hear it anyway. 
     
      "In your 70's, you and your wife retire to Fort Lauderdale. You start eating dinner at 2 in the afternoon, you have lunch around 10, breakfast the night before. You spend most of the time wandering around the mall looking for the ultimate soft yogurt, muttering, "How come the kids don't call?"

      "In your 80's, you'll have a major stroke and you'll end up babbling to some Jamaican nurse, who your wife can't stand and you call 'Mama.'

      "Any questions?'


Mitch's outlook sounds a lot like the words of the Teacher in the book of Ecclesiastes: "Perfectly pointless...perfectly pointless. Everything is pointless" Ecclesiastes 1:2, CEB). 

I much prefer the words of the apostle Paul to the Ephesians: "So be careful to live your life wisely, not foolish;y. Take advantage of every opportunity because these are evil times. Because of this, don't be ignorant, but understand the Lord's will" (Ephesians 5:15-17, (CEB)