October 20. Karl Howg. Karl worked hard and accomplished many big things.
But one day, he missed out on an ice cream cone and gained a large dose of wisdom. Here’s how it happened.
Your time is a gift; manage it well or lose it to lesser things.
Karl knew how to work hard. For him, a 60-hour work week was typical, and a 40-hour work week would be a vacation.
And the man was efficient. Karl would use his only day off well: this Sunday afternoon, he would mow the lawn and take his lovely wife out for ice cream.
But while he was mowing, a bee stung him.
Nothing happened right away, and he finished mowing the lawn. But something wasn’t right, and his tongue began to swell.
He needed help. Now.
His lovely wife rushed him to the ER, and within seconds, a slew of medical types surrounded him.
And that’s all Karl remembers.
They inserted a breathing tube and transferred Karl to the Intensive Care Unit. When he woke the next day, he had lost a day and a night of his life.
Karl was all set to grab his lovely wife and go out for ice cream, but that wasn’t going happen. Time had passed without his knowledge, just slipped away. Gone. He had no memory of the last eighteen hours.
Now time took on a new meaning for Karl.
It was a Monday when he woke, and Karl was stunned to find he wasn’t at work. This was extremely out of the ordinary. Even uncomfortable. But the longer he lay in the ICU, the more he realized that time was a gift, and it was limited, and it came without a guarantee.
Karl had been giving his life to work, and work didn’t appreciate his time in a way that meant anything. Not like his family did.
Three days later, Karl left the hospital with a new goal: he would give his time to his family and make that his priority.
One week later, he drove two hours to visit his parents, his son, his daughter, and his grandkids. A couple days after that, he and his wife took the sixteen-hour drive to Colorado to visit his other son and daughter-in-law. They spent two days there.
It’s not like he had lost his work ethic; he would always be faithful to his job. But now he was willing to step back and see things more clearly—to take time away from work. Now, he would give his time to something much more worthwhile.
“Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:15–17 NRSV).
What are you giving your time to? Your time is a gift; manage it well or lose it to lesser things.
Based on an interview with Karl Howg, September 2019.
Story read by: Joel Carpenter
Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter
Audio production: Joel Carpenter
Story written by: Toni M Babcock, https://www.facebook.com/toni.babcock.1
Editor: Teresa Crumpton, https://authorspark.org/
Project manager: Blake Mattocks
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