In the infamous words of Bob Dylan, “the times they are a changin.” Time never slows down. It never stops. Seconds slip by, seasons change, and before you know it, a whole year has gone by. I remember feeling so ready to get my driver’s license. I remember being so ready to graduate high school. Now, I’m at a spot in life where I’m so ready to graduate college. There are times in my life where I’ve been chomping at the bit for new starts. I really suck at being present sometimes.
That’s the thing about time. We don’t know how much time we have on earth. This life has a beginning and an end. We are linear. The story we are living out keeps flowing with highs and lows. We often miss the great things going on around us because of our want for something new.
As a Christian, I miss the gift of life in the present that God has given me when I focus on the future. God gives me this breath in my lungs and body to glorify Him. I miss out on what He’s teaching me presently when I focus on the future. I miss out on what God wants me to be doing presently with what’s in front of me. Right now I work at a high school cleaning poopy toilets (or being in “maintenance” if you want to make it sound fancy), being in classes, and am wrestling with finishing well with my classes. In these, I know God is teaching me something. Right now, I’m not quite sure what yet, either. It could be humility (because I’ve had to swallow a lot of pride [and certain verbs and adjectives that come to mind] when I see the mess some high schoolers leave), or it could be discipline to keep the task at hand. Somedays the lessons seem clear, and other days they seem blurry and exhausting. All I know is that I can’t lean into how I feel about the present, but keep things in perspective with what God has placed in front of me.
In the words of Proverbs 3:5-6,
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and he will make straight your paths.”
This is so much easier said than done. I still wonder why God doesn’t let me fast-forward time sometimes. If you’re like me, maybe you need to slow down, trust that God knows what He’s doing during this time in life, let Him teach me, straighten my paths, and be present.