A Parable

There is a parable told by Gene Bartlett of the Philosophical Clock. The clock was worried about the future. It thought about all that was ahead: Its job was to tick, twice every second. That would be 120 times every minute, which would be 7,200 times every hour. With twenty-four hours in the day, that’s 172,800 ticks a day. This would mean more that 63,000,000 times a year. And, thought the clock, if I stayed on the job for only ten years, that would be 630,000,000 ticks. At this the clock collapsed from nervous exhaustion. But later when it came to, it thought how foolish it had been, for it had to tick but one at a time. After this realization, it reported to be going strong after twenty-five years.

Let us be concerned with one day at a time.

Resource, Sept./Oct., 1992, p. 1