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VADE MECUM, VOL VENTIBUS ANNIS

THE MAYANS
8 9 SAN ANTONIO, Number 202
TEXAS
Copyrigh~ 1959 by The t~yan~
ohe

Living Series
MAyan Revelation Num6er 202

Clock of Destiny
Prayer Red .Cetter Days

owo Clocks 0wo Approacfies

Memorial Stones Determining Destiny

Now owo Kinds of Clock Watcliers

Beloved Centurion:

The lesson to follow has to do with TIME. I am always shocked when I hear
a man or woman say that they do not know how 11 to pass their time 11 , for my experience
through life is that there has never been enough time to do all the things I would
like to do, for as every thread of gold is valuable, so is every moment of time.
Some people have no regard for it. I consider that next to God, it is important
that we respect time. It is really a rule of good conduct.

So I admonish everyone to make use of his time now. Yesterday can never be
recalled, and tomorrow we can never be sure of, but TODAY IS YOURS. When we lose
our wealth, we can often gain it back by working industriously. When we lose our
health, medi~ine and care can usually restore it . When we lose our wisdom, it can
be restored through study. If we lose a friend, we can often regain that friend-
ship through smoothing out m_t sunderstanding or forgiveness. But lost time is gone
forever, and there is nothing we can do to bring it back. In fact, in the opinion
of your Instructor, there· is not a single moment of life we can afford to lose. It
passes so quickly, and the important thing is NOW .

We are living in a wonderful age. If you were to travel with me in my

archaeological pursuits, if you were to walk amongst the ruins of the temples built
hundreds of years ago, the impact of time would register more forcefully upon you .
The wonderful things man has done with time! If those people had not used their
time wisely, we would not be the great nation we are today . If they had had no
thought of time, if they had not attempted to build and improve, there would be no
todays as we know them.

God has given us intelligence. He has loaned us time , and we cannot be too
diligent in the way we use it, always remembering time is precious, it is short,
passing, uncertain, and when it is gone it is too late for us to do that thing we
should have done yesterday.

Make every day a day of preparation for eternal living. As I have

already said, time lost yesterday may never be regained, but a new
opportunity is always given us tomorrow. For while we may have lost
yesterday, the tapestry we are making of our life never stops, and
the pattern which was weaving when the sun went down is still weaving
when the sun comes up in the morning, and we in turn are given a new
day - a new opportunity.

So with this thought of a better use of our time in mind, let us repeat
together the following prayer, after which we will go forward with the study of
the Clock of Destiny.

Heavenly Father, help me to invest well my precious heritage of Time

by making full use of it as I move up the years. By keeping in time
with the Glock of Destiny, help me to liVe in terms of eternity.
AMEN.

Rev . 202: P1 31
 Rev. 202: P2 •

Clock of Destiny

MOST of us, when we think of the homes where we were born and
lawo CLOCKS grew up, think especially of the clock. For some it was a
modern clock with plain and elegant lines. For others it was
an older fashioned clock with ornamental trimmings and the
then new spring action. For others it was an old-fashioned clock with weights
that ran down and had to be wound up with a key. For still others it was that
really old institution known as the grandfather's clock in a case resting on the
floor and standing higher than a man 1 s head.

We remember the tick of whatever kind of clock served our family, for the
tick of a clock is as individual to its personality as the speech and manners of a
person are to his. Even now if in a dream or from some hidden place we could hear
a clock chiming we would know whether it is ours. It would distinguish itself as
positively as would the voice of a loved one or a friend.

If sometimes you pause, reflect, and listen, with your mind open to the
universe, you may get the impression that another and quite different kind of clDck
is ticking and chiming away not the hours of the day but the years of eternity.
This experience may be so definite that your mind's eye may even seem to catch a
glimpse of its broad, patient face, with the hands set to go forever.

In thought you begin at once to notice differences. The markings are not
numerals but great moments. There is one toward which all the others lead for you.
It represents your destiny. There is another one toward which all the personal
destinies lead. It represents the outcome of human history, the destiny of the
world, and the human race.

The great hand never stops moving, but the sign to which it points at any
moment is NOW. That is all the time there ever is, and, it is another word for for-
ever. Behind it are all the nows that have been, before it are all the nows that
are yet to be, and the sum of them is eternity. The clock of destiny will never
run out of nows to which to point, and each now will be a moment of opportunity.

By this clock of destiny humble and commonplace men have acted so wisely
as to become heroes, and heroes have acted so foolishly that they become humble
and commonplace men. The clock did not create their destinies. It only pointed to
the moments of opportunity the use of which determines the outcome of our lives.

If you decide to drift the clock of destiny will make no objection. If you
decide to do the wrong thing it will merely go on ticking off the moments while you
receive your inevitable reward. It will not decide the consequences. It will only
announce their arrival, which is judgment.

Watch the clock of destiny. Consider often whether you are making a step
forward at each opportunity it registers, whether each now it has ticked off for
you marked a victory rightly and fairly won.
 . ..
The clock of destiny is like the odometer in an automoblle. It adds up
the miles we travel up a long and winding road - the road of time, which is a part
of eternity. How far does it say you have traveled, and what have you to show for
it1 The answer will indicate what to do about it the rest of the way.

0 --

IN the Book of Joshua we read of the first great fulfill-

STONES ment in the conquest of Canaan, the entry into the promised
land. Behind the tribes in some unknown spot in the valley
around Mt. Nebo lay the body of the aged Moses who had led
them thus far. Beyond that lay the track of the long journey through the wilder-
ness. Ahead of them lay the intervening Jordan River, and beyond it the long
awaited country that Abraham had won and the sons of Jacob had lost. Joshua, the
new leader realized that this was not a moment to be taken lightly, for he was
listening to the voice of God.

The Ark of the Covenant was carried by priests before whose feet the swollen
waters of the river divided for a safe crossing. Behind them the vast company of
the tribes marched over on dry ground . As they went one man from each tribe picked
up a long-concealed stEme from the river bed and carried it with him. When the last
tribe was across the river, and the stream was again sweeping on its way, the bear-
ers were commanded to lay their stones in a h~ap as a memorial of the day when
deliverance from bondage was complete, and Israel had a home at last. All this
Joshua commanded the people to do because, as he said, 11 Ye have not passed this
way heretofore. 11
In this event and what Joshua said about it is revealed a great and solemn
fact about an experience that comes to us all. Who of us is not marching from some
Egypt of bondage to some Canaan of hope? Who of us is not always crossing some
river between a wilderness and a promised land? It is appropriate at these moments
of realization, when struggles are past and triumph is near, to pause and set up
some memorial in our thoughts in recognition that this is a great place to which
we have come and a great day that has brought us here, for we have not passed this
way heretofore.

While this is grandly true of the special times and places in our lives it
is also true of the seemingly lesser ones . What we can say of the Red Seas, the
Sinais, the Meribahs, and the Nebos, of our journey we can also say of each experi-
ence to which we have come - we have not passed this way heretofore. At any spot
on any day we can pause, say a prayer of gratitude, think on the significance of the
fact that we are a little farther from the dream and a little nearer to its fulfill -
ment, and rededicate ourselves for the rest of the journey.

As Abraham had long before made the original journey from his old Chaldaean
home to Canaan and left a trail that could be traced by the altars he built, we can
make a pilgrimage through the years that can be traced by the times when we reflected
that we were following a leading, and that every new point we reached was wonderful,
different, and full of importance.

Rev . 202 : P.3

 Rev. 202: P4
•
Each morning we look up the road over a new distance to be traveled that
day. Each evening we look back on a little more of the wilderness trail behind us.
Each day the distance is less between us and the goal we seek. You have not pass-
ed this way heretofore, and will not pass this way again. Make the most of it
while you can.

0 --

~
A little while back we were thinking about the clock of destiny,
and we said that it was not marked with numerals but with steps to
our individual destinies and finally the destiny of mankind. We
also said that the long hand is always pointing to one of the nows
that make up eternity.

Into these endless nows hliman history has been built from the beginning to
this· present day. In them earth's men of destiny, some great and some small, but
all important, have come, and labored, and gone. In them the growth and develop-
ment of the world life has been carried from the jungles of savagery to the wonder
we now see. Into them we must build our lives and efforts as other ages have built
theirs. NOW is the wonderful word for a wonderful time. Its meaning for us is
great because it is always a moment of opportunity.

The sweeping of the hand around and around on the face of the clock reminds
us that the nows of eternity are numberless. In our Canaans, or whatever lands of
promise we reach, we shall have these nows of opportunity constantly coming so that
in them we may achieve still greater victories of good. But that is within the
limits of mortality. We never have more than enough. Moses did not have quite
enough to make it because he wasted some through error and weakness. Joshua had
more; but none too many. None of·us has any to lose or waste.

In youth most of us have .sometimes thought there was no need to begin work
so early, stay with it constantly, or keep at it so late. We said the days were
many and long, and there would be .plenty of time. Perhaps we were told that no day
is long enough to justify the wasting of morning hours; that we should finish our
work with dispatch so that if there were any time left to take it easier it would
come later when there was less danger of never getting it all done. We did not
agree at the time, but as the sun of life's afternoon begins to shoulder down we
all qome to realize that the principle is true.

This is also a good way to think of the longer journey and the greater task.
We never know what hindrances we will meet nor how much more there may be of the
task than we expected. If we get it out of the way while there is still time we
will save ourselves the worry of seeing the sun sink faster than we are approaching
the completion of the day's work, of hurrying too fast in the fear that we shall
not be ready for the end of the day; and quite possibly finding at the last that
the worry and the fear were justified. Do not let your ~ ggi away from you with-
out enough to show for them. They ~your inherited capital. Invest them wisely
and well.
 Stop where you are and reflect what a wondF.ful thing life is no>.;, what a
glorious creation the world is llQli, how many wonderful-' things and people there are
around you now; how blessed it is to have friends, tasks, and inspiring experiences
llQli, what a marvelous thing it is to be living nQli, how secure is the protection
and how lavish are the blessings of God n2li· It is as it has been and will be, but
remember that each moment brings a separate experience in which all this wonder is
renewed for you n2li·

-- 0 --

THE calendar on your wall or desk differentiates

:RFJ) LETTER DAYS between ordinary days and red letter days. Most of
the dates on it are printed in plain black. These are
the run of the mine days, so to speak, the supposedly
commonplace days, the days that are just dates, the days that have no special
distinction.

A few, however, stand out in emphasizing red ink, which proclaims of each
that it is a so-called red letter day. It is a day that carries some special sig-
nificance, a day honoring some person or interest, or a day commemorating some
important achievement or event.

Are you disposed to agree with the calendar that most days are ordinary and
meaningless, and leave it at that? If so you probably have a passive attitude that
will keep your life dull and empty as long as you have it. There is nothing in-
evitable about these red letter days. Some of them may deserve their distinction
less than some others, of course. God did not put that red ink on the pages. The
printer did, and he did it only because on that date at some time someone had done
something that seemed to justify it. Someone may make this a red letter day on
the calendar. If it is not you, it might just as well be.

Why don't you become a dispenser of printer's red ink yourself1 You can
make a few red letter days of your own. Even if the printer should fail to honor
them with red ink on the calendar, you can do something better - you can make them
deserve it. You can build yourself quite a career if you try - one that will in-
spire others to make their lives important and at the same time give you some very
good remembering.

-- 0 --

Some are content just to let life act upon them. Others are disposed
to act upon it. The first live ordinary black letter days that come
and go without suggesting anything to anyone. The second put red
letter days into the year. The way to animate the calendar with days
that at least deserve to be printed in red ink is to set yourself a
course, assign yourself a task, establish an objective, work for a
victory, and never give up. Don't just read history. Make a little
of it yourself. Don't let your life be made up of clock ticks. Give
the clock ticks a meaning. Let them make a difference.

Rev. 202: P5
 Rev. 202: P6

Remember that there are no unimportant days. There are empty days, to be
sure, but only because someone let them be so. Do not surrender just because a day
seems to start out dull. That is its challenge. It is trying to tell you that it
is waiting to be made a red letter day. All it needs is the touch of a hero. And
what is a hero? It is anyone who rises in a heroic way to a heroic opportunity.
There is nothing in that to shut you out.

Consider any so-called great day in history. It did not make itself so.
It was made so by someone to whom it may have looked very unpromising. All days
are alike till people start making them different. Then they become as great or
as ordinary as the way they are lived.

Improve on the calendar. Put more meaning into it by giving it more impor-
tant days. Make the printer buy more red ink.

-- 0 --

SUPPOSE you have decided to do something for the benefit

f:Two APPROACHES I of the calendar by putting some more red letter days on
it, that is, by turning into significant days some that
would otherwise have been only ordinary ones. There are
two ways of going about it, ways by one of which you might succeed and by the other
of which you are practically certain to.

You may have been thinking while you were reading this that making red let-
ter days is all very well for the unusual people called geniuses, but that you are
not such a person and could not possibly do anything outstanding. What you mean
is that you think you are not the kind of person to do anything spectacular, which
is quite a different matter.

You might surprise yourself some day by doin~ something quite spectacular
and doing it very well. Then you might find that the big show would reduce down
to something not very important after all. It is all vBry well if the occasion
calls for it, and if you can rise to the occasion; but it' is not the only way to
accomplish important things in life. Whether the occasion will come, and whether
you can rise to it in exactly the right way at exactly the right moment, is more
or less accidental. A few do it successfully. Many try and fail. Many more do
not even know how to begin. It is not a bad way to make history, but it is a rather
uncertain one.

The other way, the one that practically always wins, is to undertake some-
thing that needs to be done and work at it faithfully till it is accomplished. By
far the greater part of the important chapters of history have been made possible
just that way. Many of them have even been made possible by faithful workers after
opportunists had tried it by the showy method and failed.

Among the twelve men Jesus chose to extend and perpetuate his work all were
plain, everyday people and only a few ever became famous. Yet all the rest did
their work and built their lives into the success of the project. We read of little
that James, the brother of John did, yet he was on~ of the Master's closest and
most trusted helpers. No great exploits are attributed to Andrew, the brother of
Simon Peter, yet but for him his great brother would probably never even have met
the Master.

After the death of Judas, the traitor, the remalnlng eleven felt it neces-
sary to choose someone to take the place he had left vacant, and the choice fell
upon a man named Matthias. We know little else of him, either before or after his
appointment. We read of nothing he did to obtain the appointment. But by infer-
ence we do know two things - he was there and he was ready to accept the burden of
responsibility. We can assume a third thing - that he did his part in the laying
of the foundations of the Christian movement in those early years.

The doors are not closed to you. There are no roadblocks in the way. No
one demands that you do something spectacular, though no one will object if you do
and it succeeds. The re~l requirement is to find something that needs doing, do it
well, and carry it through to completion. You can do that, and it will make an-
other red letter day on the calendar for you and perhaps for the world.

-- 0 --

THERE are some things about destiny we cannot

fJETERMINING DESTINY determine because they are set in the order of
things in a way we have no power to change. We
operate on a basis of free will, but we do it in
two ways. In so~e cases we will what we will do in relation to things already
established. In others we actually determine what shall be or not.

This can be illustrated by the operation of an old-fashioned loom. In

setting up a loom for weaving a piece of fabric certain threads ~re first strung
vertically on it in selected colors and numbers according to the pattern to be
woven. That is the warp, and once set it cannot be changed.

With the threads to be woven in horizontally it is different. They are

wound on a shuttle which is threaded under and over the warp back and forth across
the width, and each time pushed tightly into place. We decide and choose, and if
desired, even change it at will.

Life is like a fabric being woven on a loom. Certain elements of it we

find already set in place. We had nothing to do with it, and we have no power to
change it. We do not determine it. We only make and carry out our choices in re-
lation to it.

But certain other elements of living are entirely in our control, and these
two kinds of choice make up what we call freedom of the will. What you do with
relation to the fixed conditions of your life, and how you choose the weft threads
to combine with those conditions determines the pattern of what you will produce.
That pattern is ya.ur destiny. You will have determined part of it, and had a share
in determining all of it.

Rev. 202: F'7

 Rev. 202: P8
•
In other words, you have a great deal, quite enough in fact, to do with
determining your own life and its destiny. It will have certain elements you found
in your situation and certain other elements you decided to unite with them to
bring about a chosen combination. As a builder adapts the materials he chooses by
the methods he desires to the conditions provided beforehand, you will adapt your
efforts as you see fit to the things and conditions you found awaiting you. On
this basis the work of your life will proceed.

As the weaver adds thread by thread to the growing roll, you will add acts,
or days, or influences, to the facts and conditions with which you find you must
work. The result can be a worthy pattern, or a poor one, or none at all. That is
for you to decide and bring about.

You must keep your mind on your purpose all the time as you keep your
shuttle flying back and forth. Each solitary thread requires your attention as
you make it a part of your total plan. If it is wrongly chosen or poorly thrust
into place, the pattern is marred, and a section of the fabric may even be render-
ed worthless.

The hand of the clock of destiny always stands at DQli, but that now is
related to all the moments before and after it. Some of your weaving is finished,
and some is yet to be done, so through it all must run your total plan. Each clock
tick adds to or subtracts from the beauty and value of the final result, so keep
track of them and let each 011e add something constructive to what you are doing.

-- 0 --

IN business and industry we are familiar with

t:Two KINDS OF CLOCK WATCHERS the so-called clock watcher. People do not
employ him if they know it, and having em-
ployed him th&y feel much better satisfied
when they can replace him with someone not so conscious of the clock as noon or
quitting time approaches.

We notice that the people who have accomplished most in the world have not
bothered about the clock. In the Edison plant at West Orange, New Jersey, in Mr.
Edison's day no one could watch the clock. There were many clocks around the place
but none was worth watching. Some were broken. Some showed the wrong time. One
big clock was kept ticking regularly, but the hands had been removed.

One reason Mr. Edison accomplished the amazing things .he did was the fact
that he paid no attention to the passing of time. He was interested in his work and
never wanted to leave a task till it was finished. One who has his heart in his
work does not think of it as something to avoid but as something to finish.

But there is another kind of clock watcher than the one anxious for quitting
time to come. To him we are all indebted. He keeps track of the time because he
is measuring his work with the time in the effort to be sure he will be able to
finish it on schedule. Mr. Edison himself probably did that.
 Picture a farmer in hay harvest time. It was so apparent that the work
could be finished in less than a day that he was not careful to begin promptly the
last morning. There was plenty of time, so he did not rise so early, nor hurry
so much, nor keep track of the time so carefully.

Everything went smoothly till he noticed that it was getting later than he
thought. He would have to hurry. Then clouds began piling up along the horizon.
The hay on the ground must not be ~ained on, so he could not wait and finish in the
morning. He worked harder than ever. A flash of lightning was followed by a roll
of thunder. The clouds blew nearer. He was not even going to have the rest of the
afternoon in which to finish. He worked frantically, and just managed to get the
last of the hay stacked before the storm broke. He had to watch the time in fear
and trembling in the afternoon because he had not watched it carefully enough in
the morning.

Many people in the later afternoon of life are doing as he did. They were
not saving enough of their time in the beginning. They let it get away from them.
Then unexpected delays, l~ke summer showers, came up and set them back. Now the
sun is sinking in the west raster than they ever thought it could and, very con-
scious of the time now, they are frantically trying to get life's work done before
the night falls when no man can work.

It is a poor thing to be a clock watcher with a view to slighting

one's work, but a very wise thing to be a clock watcher with a view
to getting through before the time runs out. Keep your eye on the
clock of destiny. It will tell you whether you are on schedule. If
it moves on before your mission is completed, there will be no help
for it, but if your sheaves are in before it registers twilight,
yours will be a peaceful heart.

-- 0

Your Instructor is g1v1ng you the following Affirmation to use daily. It

can be repeated several times during the day. Memorize it.

With God's help, I will keep always in mind

the enormous value of life and time, aiming
at its worthiest use, its most gratifying end.

YOUR CLASS INSTRUCTOR.

Rev. 202: P9