© 1987 Madeline Noordzy
© 1987 ANZURA, Australia & New Zealand Urantia Association
All the years of reading bedtime stories to the children, must have left a lasting impression behind. The first thing that came to mind when I started to think about the subject of priorities was: ‘The three little pigs’. The third little pig in Walt Disney’s cartoon certainly had an air of solidity about him. With his blue pair of overalls and cap, putting bricks upon mortar, slap, slosh, slap. He didn’t mind a hard day’s yakka. And he was pretty generous too, you must admit. For apart from telling his brothers: “I told you so”, when their flimsy shelters fell down, the first time that big, bed wolf was doing his deep breathing exercises, he did invite them in. And you couldn’t exactly say: “All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy”. For once he built his house, he did enjoy himself at the party they had, when they nearly finished up with roast wolf for supper. But I wonder how tolerant he was of those two lazy brothers, once he discovered that they were too weak to carry their dirty dishes to the dishwasher, and left their muddy socks lying under the bed. I hope he was wise enough to give them a gentle push out of the door again, when that wolf with the roast buttocks left the neighborhood. For how else could they ever. learn to stand on their own two wobbly trotters?
It was all a matter of priorities. I wonder how right we have our priorities, when it comes to eternal survival. How much time do we spend on satisfying our physical needs?
A Solitary Messenger of Orvonton gives us the following comment: “I cannot but observe that so many of you spend so much time and thought on mere trifles of living, while you almost wholly overlook the more essential realities of everlasting import, those very accomplishments which are concerned with the development of a more harmonious working agreement between you and your Adjusters. The great goal of human existence is to attune to the divinity of the indwelling Adjuster; the great achievement of mortal life is the attainment of a true and understanding consecration to the eternal aims of the divine spirit who waits and works within your mind.” (UB 110:3.4)
Sometimes I imagine that at the end of the day we hand to our Thought Adjuster a bag of goodies, which are the accomplishments of the day. The Adjuster looks inside this bag, where it is very dark. He can only see the things with a neon-coating on them. They are the things with survival value for our soul. These are the things that he relativizes or duplicates for us. The rest is discarded.
When Martha complained to Jesus that her sister Mary wasn’t pulling her weight, Jesus answered: “Martha, Martha, why are you always anxious about so many things and troubled by so may trifles? Only one thing is really worth while, and since Mary has chosen this good and needful part, I shall not take it away from her. But when will both of you learn to live as I have taught you: both serving in co-operation and both refreshing your souls in unison? Can you not learn that there is a time for everything — that the lesser matters of life should give way before the greater things of the heavenly kingdom?” (UB 162:8.3)
Although I am aware that certain philosophies tell us that time is only an illusion, a Mighty Messenger of Uversa tells us that “Time is a vital factor in everything this side of Havona and Paradise.” (UB 28:6.10)
I wonder what your opinion is on the following old English nursery rhyme: “Little Boy Blue, come blow up your horn. The sheep’s in the meadow, the cows in the corn. Where is the boy who looks after the sheep? He’s under the haystack, fast asleep.” Unless that Little Boy Blue was awake with a toothache all night, I think that he had no business to be asleep under the haystack, while the cows were munching that precious corn, which was meant for the family’s winter supply. Had he been dancing the night away?
That same Mighty Messenger has this to say about time: “Time is the one universal endowment of all will creatures; it is the “one talent” intrusted to all intelligent beings. You all have time in which to insure your survival; and time is fatally squandered only when it is buried in neglect, when you fail so to utilize it as to make certain the survival of your soul.” (UB 28:6.9)
And now we are on the subject of souls, here is another English nursery rhyme: “Old King Cole was a merry old soul, and a merry old soul was he. He called for his pipe, he called for his bowl, and he called for his fiddlers three.”
Do not think that I am begrudging that old king his pipe and his bowl, for let’s face it, the poor man had to have some way to relax. He was probably lying awake at night, trying to think up a new tax scheme, so he could pay for the workers compensation of his three fiddlers. plus the extra loading on top of their holiday pay. Not to forget the double time they charged after 11.00 p. m. every time they had a party at the palace.
No, I agree with the Solitary Messenger who says: “But a devoted and determined effort to realize eternal destiny is wholly compatible with a light-hearted and joyous life and with a successful and honorable career on earth. Co-operation with the Thought Adjuster does not entail self-torture, mock piety, or hypocritical and ostentatious self-abasement; the ideal life is one of loving service rather than an existence of fearful apprehension.” (UB 110:3.4)
There is a time to work. But the question is if our work is a means to an end, or is it, or the money we earn with it, an end in itself.
Jesus had no objection to the possession of wealth, only to the love of wealth. “Man may not share his supreme loyalty to a spiritual ideal with a material devotion.” (UB 163:2.10)
There is a time to play. “All efforts to obtain wholesome diversion and to engage in uplifting play are sound; refreshing sleep, rest, recreation and all pastimes which prevent the boredom of monotony are worth while. Competitive games, storytelling, and even the taste of good food may serve as forms of self-gratification.” (UB 84:8.5) But we are also reminded that: “The hunger of the soul cannot be satisfied with physical pleasures (UB 84:8.4) “Man has well earned some of his present-day joys and pleasures. But look you well to the goal of destiny!” (UB 84:8.6)
There is a time for everything. It is just a matter of what comes first.
Madeline Noordzy, Melbourne Illustrated by Wolfgang Borutta
