I wrote this blog about three years ago. But I was thinking about it today, because I’m antsy. I’m in that lovely waiting period that most of the writer’s life sits in, and I have way too much time on my hands. So I think about all the things I should be doing or that I might have missed out on doing. And then I remembered this blog. The times have changed a bit for me, like my girls are older now, but on the other hand, things are still very much the same. So I’m posting this to remind myself. Maybe you need to be reminded too.

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I wish I could remember that life takes time. Life is a marathon, not a sprint and all that. Maybe it’s because we’ve embraced the instant variety of life, with all our technology and microwaves. But I often feel despair because I look at how my life is today or even this year, and I feel like I’m doomed or I’ve missed out and any greatness that could have happened should have and now never will.

This life I live right now is hard and, honestly, boring. I’m the mother of little girls. My youngest is two. My days are the same, marching by in perfect predictability. I like predictability, but my daily predictable tasks of meals, naps, fussiness and messes are boring. And it’s easy to feel like this is all my life will ever be. I must have missed the fun boat somewhere. There are so many people my age who are living so much more interesting lives, with their books that are being published and their dreams that are coming true and the impact they are having on others. And I have to wipe my table one more time.

But life takes time. I am so short-sighted. In college, our dear, very respected president of the university would stand up in chapel and tell us that our college experience was just a parenthesis in our lives. I remember feeling insulted at that statement, as if he were trivializing our days. Those days were IT. They weren’t a parenthesis, they were everything. We were pouring our hearts and souls into those days, feeling all the feels as we became adults and how could he make it sound like it just wasn’t that important? But he was right, of course. Those four years were full and long, but then they were gone, and I’ve lived so much life since then. I had lost the big picture, choosing to only focus on that moment, placing way more emphasis on it than I should have.

Sometimes I like to stop and consider how much time passed in the Bible. It’s easy for us to read a story, and really it only takes us a few minutes. But those people were real, and they lived their lives in 24 hour increments, just like we do. In Genesis, Joseph spent decades in captivity after his brothers sold him before he became the second most important ruler in Egypt. After that, the Israelites spent 400 years in slavery to the Egyptians. I’m sure many of them were resigned to the fact that their lives would never be filled with anything but oppression, and that would be the same for all their future generations. Did you know there is a gap of about 400 years between the Old and New Testaments? That means from the time that the last prophet spoke until Jesus was born, people just lived their lives. I’m sure they wondered and doubted the whole time if things would ever be different. There were so many crazy things going on in the world during that time too, with the rise of rulers and empires that wanted to control the Jewish people. One of the most fascinating time gaps for me is the three days it took for Jesus to rise from the dead. In the Bible we read that he died, then we read that he rose. But there were three days that his disciples just sat around, not knowing what to do or what was going on or if they were going to die next. Three long days. I’m sure they felt like hope had died completely and the future of their world seemed dark and unimaginable.

But God was using all that time. It wasn’t random. God never forgot about them and the things that were happening. He had a plan, and those hours and minutes were planned out that way so that His will could be accomplished. He was setting up the conditions so that each major event would happen in such a way that the most glory would be given to God. And since God is the same yesterday, today and forever, then I have to believe that these boring minutes that I live through each day are also orchestrated by God, so that whatever event He has planned for me will have the most impact for His kingdom.

I can’t say it any better way than this:

Ecclesiastes 3:11 – Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.

I cannot see the end game God has planned out. And maybe I never will. But I can rest in the promise that He will make everything beautiful for its own time.

If I could just remember each day that life takes time, I think I would have an easier time finding joy and thankfulness and rest. My days are what they are now, but it’s a fact of life that they will not always be this way. My babies will grow. I can’t stop it. My two-year-old will be potty trained one day. My four-year-old will go to school. My seven-year-old will be able to cook for herself and do her own laundry. And my days will look a lot different then. The minutes I spend just sitting in my living room watching my baby play because she becomes unbearable if I try to do anything else during that time will be free to do who knows what else. God knows,

You’ve heard it before, because I have very few original thoughts: be faithful with the tasks you are given today. Even if you died tonight, you could stand before the Lord saying you did everything you were asked to do. He will not hold you responsible for future events that you haven’t even gotten to yet. He wants to know if you were faithful with the minutes you were given. Life takes time, and God designed it that way.