It happens overnight......or it seems to anyway. One day it's winter, snow-covered and frigid, then one day we wake up to a brown, non-descript landscape with temperatures that are neither cold nor warm. Everything in sight just 'is'. The world is at limbo, unsure whether it's safe to move forward or if it might be stalled. Then, as if overnight, one day we open our eyes and the world has come alive. The brown landscape has transitioned to a fresh green. Buds on trees are beginning to swell, the birds are singing their Spring serenade as they begin their courting dance, and the temperature is suddenly alluring, encouraging us to leave our winter retreat. Just like that, almost overnight, spring has arrived on our doorstep, and we can thank God that we have survived another winter.
Life is a lot like the arrival of spring. Do you remember being in elementary school, looking forward into your future thinking, 'I can't wait to be done with school, to graduate and be an adult'. It seemed impossible to fathom, like an eternity ahead. How could we survive all those years of school??? Then one day, we are standing on our graduation stage and stepping into adulthood. We made it!
I remember the days of pacing the floor with a colicky, fussy baby, asking God for patience and wondering how I'd survive this phase. We navigate the terrible two's and the hormonal teens and send them off to college.....now wondering how we'll survive without them. These phases, though years apart, pass in a blink, sometimes feeling like overnight. Somewhere in those years, we might even wish we could go back to the simpler times of colic and tantrums, because at least then we knew where our kids were and what they were doing. One day we're praying that God will bless us with babies and the next those babies leave the nest. Even when we're paying attention and seeming to savor the moments, the milestones..... the years pass so quickly.
One day we're young and energetic, able to stay up late and still get to work on time. Chores are easy, our energy only out measured by our self-confidence. We're strong and determined, independent and sure we know it all. We don't need anyone, we're 40 and fabulous. We've got life in the palm of our hand, and we have all the time in the world at our disposal. We can do as we please, without a worry or care. Life is good. We might not think we need God but even if we still do, we may not call upon him as often.
And then it happens - overnight really. We wake up and we're not 40 anymore. We are 70 and not so strong, not so self-reliant perhaps. We've figured out that we don't know it all and quite a while ago we learned the value of asking for advice and learning from others. Those chores that were once easy are a little more tiring now and going to bed early doesn't seem like a surrender, it feels good. Sleep is necessary, but it can be elusive at times. Instead of walking the floor with a colicky baby, we're sitting in a recliner, in the dark, contemplating life's great mysteries, including why sleep at this age isn't just a simple matter of fact like it used to be. Those kids that challenged us in the early years, tested us in their teen years and kept us awake with worry in the college years are now adults with kids of their own. They once depended on us for everything, but now they stand alone, unsupported and wise, strong and determined. They've got it all in the palm of their hands. That job - raising our kids - is done. Our other job - the career we invested in so much, gave so much of ourselves to, that too is finished. The retirement that seemed lifetimes away is right here, right now. We have finished reading pretty much all of life's chapters. That book that looked so thick, so daunting that we thought we'd never finish it, is nearing the last chapter. We made it. But there were times along the journey that we weren't sure we'd make it. There were times we couldn't see the beginning from the end. We couldn't tell if it was spring or fall.....but what did it matter. We felt powerless to stop the hands of time or start over.
Like Spring's arrival, life passes quickly . We wake up one morning and realize we've finished most of the chapters. Even though we read with focus, didn't skip pages, and thought we were savoring every page, we find ourselves entering new season. We can't go back and re-read, we can't live any of life's stages over again; we can't undo our mistakes or pay closer attention to the times we took for granted. We can implore God to grant us more seasons, though that decision has probably already been made. Now we just have to be grateful for the seasons we've had, even when we look back and ask where that time went.
Our kids may be with us for 18 years, but anyone who has had children will tell you it was the fastest 18 years imaginable. People who have been married 50 years pray they can have more time with their spouse. Generally, we all wake up surprised about where we are in life and wonder how we got here. Mostly we want this season to go on and on, to love more, to learn more, to do more, to savor more. Mostly we aren't waking up asking God to take back some of our allotted time here. We're begging Him to grant us more time.
The seasons change, on that we can depend. Life's chapters change from one to the next, and even the hardest of life's challenges usually pass. Regardless of how hopeless things feel, chances are we'll wake up to a brighter day. Just remember your last illness, even a flu or stomach bug. In the depths of it, we feel desperate. We pray to recover and feel normal. And one day, we do....almost overnight. Almost nothing in life is in our complete control. Surely the passing of time is not. Anyone who has faced a diagnosis that threatened to shorten their days understands this. Whether this season of your life seems to be moving in slow motion or like a speeding train, one day you'll wake up and find yourself past it. Alice Walker is quoted as saying, "Time moves slowly but passes quickly". She's right! My hope is that we can remember how quickly time passes and take time each day to savor - the weather, the sky, the smell of the earth, the people in our lives, and whatever challenge you are facing at this very moment. And when this moment has passed, I hope you can thank God for bringing you through it and ask Him to give you the ability to learn from it and a heart to savor each moment and every tomorrow. Today, Easter Sunday, Jesus gave his life so we could have ours. Don't waste that gift! Happy Easter.
