Well, here it December and time to ask the same question as last year; where did the time go?! Sometimes I feel like there is a conspiracy that makes time go faster as we get older! In October the time changed and we gained an hour. If there was some way to save up all those gained hours over the years, maybe we could add some days to our lives! Just a thought.

It’s holiday time…Christmas time. It is that time of year when some people put on their shopping shoes and compete with the crowds while other people sit & wait on the benches in the center aisle of the mall and watch the shoppers. At Christmas there seems to be two distinct groups of people…Do’ers and Watchers. Actually it kinda sounds like the rest of the year and is a pretty good picture of society in general. A leadership book I once read said there are three kinds of people: Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder what happened! 

We Signal Corps OCS Graduates learned the importance of making things happen. We spent years in the Army and in civilian life making things happen. We became ‘men of action.’ I believe we have a responsibility to our families, our friends and to society to continue taking positive action until we are officially P.U.D. (pushing up daises). The Army invested in us all those years ago; we need to honor that investment and pass it on. It has a lot to do with priorities and making time for the things that produce the best long-term results. Maybe you can make a New Year’s Resolution to do better in this area AND actually keep it! I know that there is only so much time I have to leave a legacy through those I influence. Psalm 90:12 says, “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” I will do the best I can to properly number my days, and then I’ll pray for wisdom to come. Have a wise Christmas!  

Gift Idea: Write or record the “Story of Your Life,” providing your extended family a picture of their heritage that goes back to your birth and maybe even before that. I have 9 brothers and sisters, 7 of whom are older than me. Every year at our Family Reunion we have a Memory Session, where we share experiences that relate to the family. We record them, usually on video, and someone volunteers to reproduce them on DVD for the rest of us. I have been writing a Journal for years that I am now editing into a History Book for my kids and grandkids. However you do it…be a Man of Action!