July 20 – “Less that one minute …”

Our newspaper deliverer (or carrier or paperboy … what do they call themselves these days) forgot about us this morning.  A pretty rare occurrence, actually.  It is usually here right at or slightly before six a.m., and sometimes closer to five.  It ordinarily shows up right under the tree in our front yard so I can see it easily when I step onto the front porch.  Not there this morning, though.  Even looked under the car (not an easy task early in the morning for my lower back.  Takes it a while to get going).  So I called the newspaper office and was put on hold.  But the computer told me I was second in line and my wait time was “less than one minute.”  In fact, every minute the very helpful voice returned to assure me that my wait time was still “less than one minute.”  After the sixth reassurance an actual human voice interrupted my reverie and kindly offered to help me.  I almost forgot what to say.  I did manage to stumble through my predicament, and it would seem that she might have heard a problem very similar to mine a time or two.  She must have been very experienced in the newspaper circulation field, wouldn’t you say?  She assured me that a newspaper would appear in my yard in a very short period of time.  I wondered if that would be “less than one minute,” but she wasn’t ever very specific.  I think her words were “right away.”  So now I have the first two words for my new telephone users guide to service department terminology:

“Less than one minute” – actually means “at least six minutes, but could be more if the line at the coffee pot is long.”

“Right away” – actually means “I’ll make a call to the deliverer and he’ll swing back by when he finishes his route and has a fourth or fifth cup of coffee.  Don’t expect him for at least (yet to be determined as of this writing) minutes.”

Philippians 2:3 says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”

Father, thank you for all the “one minutes” you have given us.  Help us look for ways to use them all to the fullest.  Amen.