“Just Five More Minutes…Please?”

Dear Reader:

How many of us remember as children playing the “Just five more minutes, please?” card each day, normally before a nap and/or especially bedtime…since children dismiss sleep, nonchalantly, in their tiny world…caught up in whatever passion or interest absorbs them at any particular moment in their childhood development.

We discover quickly, however, that if we win the first round from our request and get an extra five minutes of play time…we are pushing it to ask for a second or third “Just five more minutes please” request… without an increasing chance of retribution from tired, overly extended, now impatient, parents.

Yet, wasn’t there something so satisfying about getting that extended five minutes…which to a child seems longer, but even more importantly, a small victory for a child with few freedoms, in an adult-controlled world. It made the audible permission even sweeter to the ears.

Don’t you think adults should create and then disperse ” Just five more minutes, please?”  playing cards (like a “Get Out of Jail” Monopoly card) to adults on special occasions, like birthdays or Christmas. Maybe bosses and CEO’s could keep some in their desk to dispense to hard-working employees caught up in their personal projects over mundane paperwork requirements.

All of us inhabiting this amazing planet need “Just Five More Minutes, Please” opportunities… to, perhaps, correct misunderstandings or have compassion time to help another going through a personal loss or five additional minutes to encourage a fellow worker or friend down on their luck.

Realistically we all know at some point in our lives…we will virtually run out of time…there will be no more “Just Five More Minutes, Please” permission declarations granted. However, in this last scenario we have on earth…the reason our request is turned down is because God knows we don’t need it any more.

We are going to a place where chronological time no long exists…five minutes means nothing in our next life. We are now in kairos time where our search for fulfillment is finally recognized and we have eternity to be who we always were meant to be…the sound of a clock ticking will never be heard again…we have become time…and as such we live the life we always dreamed of on earth.

We prepared all our life for it…trying to be good stewards of it…consciously or unconsciously… as written in this poem.

I’ve only just a minute,
Only sixty seconds in it.
Forced upon me, can’t refuse it,
Didn’t seek it, didn’t choose it,
But it’s up to me to use it.
I must suffer if I lose it,
Give an account if I abuse it
Just a tiny little minute,
But eternity is in it.

God’s Minute
– Dr. Benjamin E. Mays

So until tomorrow…We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; in feelings, not in figures on a dial. We should count time by heart throbs. He most lives who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.”  – Aristotle

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

This is a pre-Eloise photo…so probably a Christmas photo taken about four years ago…how quickly the children grow. Tempus Fugit.

 

 

 

About Becky Dingle

I was born a Tarheel but ended up a Sandlapper. My grandparents were cotton farmers in Laurens, South Carolina and it was in my grandmother’s house that my love of storytelling began beside an old Franklin stove. When I graduated from Laurens High School, I attended Erskine College (Due West of what?) and would later get my Masters Degree in Education/Social Studies from Charleston Southern. I am presently an adjunct professor/clinical supervisor at CSU and have also taught at the College of Charleston. For 28 years I taught Social Studies through storytelling. My philosophy matched Rudyard Kipling’s quote: “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” Today I still spread this message through workshops and presentations throughout the state. The secret of success in teaching social studies is always in the story. I want to keep learning and being surprised by life…it is the greatest teacher. Like Kermit said, “When you’re green you grow, when you’re ripe you rot.”
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3 Responses to “Just Five More Minutes…Please?”

  1. Rujuta says:

    That’s a great post!! The reference to Aristotle makes it even better.. loved it!

  2. Rujuta says:

    Thank you so much!
    Wish you a very happy and healthy new year too! Hope to read a lot of posts from you 🙂

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