Time is a Gift

I have been reflecting on time a lot lately. It's probably no surprise that I am thinking about it. All of a sudden I am sitting in the passenger seat while my daughter drives! The move that seemed like it would never come is mere months away. I realized recently that if my son were still alive, we would be touring colleges right now. My sister's birthday is in a few days. She passed when she was 33 but would be turning 41. It seems impossible that so much time has passed.

It can be tempting to think of time as a thief. However, I try to remember that time is a gift. If time has stolen anything from me, it has given it back to me more. Memories, moments, second chances, one day built upon another until I am here. Today. With so much to be thankful for.

In the book One Thousand Gifts, author Ann Voskamp spends a chapter on time, concluding that: "Giving thanks for one thousand things is ultimately an invitation to slow time down with weight of full attention...Time is a relentless river. It rages on, a respecter of no one. And this, this is the only way to slow time: When I fully enter time's swift current, enter into the current moment with the weight of all my attention, I slow the torrent with the weight of me all here. I can slow the torrent by being all here. I only live the full life when I live fully in the moment. And when I'm always looking for the next glimpse of glory, I slow and enter. And time slows." (p 69-70)

This theme is found throughout the Bible, with the Psalmist praying "teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:12). I am also reminded of the study I am participating in this year on the Isrealites during and after the Babylonian exile. I shared earlier in the year how I was surprised to find that their exile ended. Now as we near the end of the study, I am also realizing how far they still had to go after the end of the exile and how much time all of the rebuilding took. It took two years for the first wave of returning exiles to rebuild the foundation of the temple, about twenty-three years to rebuild the temple, and approximately ninety-four years to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Even after these ninety some years, Jerusalem remained sparsely populated and the Isrealites continued to be ruled by foreigners. Rebuilding was slowed by sin and opposition, but rebuilding also takes time. God was working in the hearts and lives of His people, leading them, guiding them, and preparing them. God uses time in our own lives too, more concerned about our sanctification and the growth of our faith than slowing down or speeding up time to fit our desires. Time in God's hands is a gift.

As I continue to mourn what was and what might have been, as I stand in awe of God's continued work in my life, as both my mourning and my awe remind me our days here on earth pass both too quickly and too slowly, I take comfort in the fact that God is everlasting. He holds our lives in His hands. And He invites us to spend eternity with Him. I'll end this reflection on time with a final quote from Ann Voskamp: "In Christ, don't we have everlasting existence? Don't Christians have all the time in eternity, life everlasting?" (p 64).

My daughter is taking a cake decorating class!

Waiting for my husband to get home!

My daughter and I have been adding Easter crafts to our collection
for the last 8 years or so.

I Want to Remember This: February 2026

February was mainly a month of doing the work we are called to here in SE Michigan. I homeschooled, attended Bible study, brought my daughter to softball practices, and sat in the passenger seat while she learned to drive. I attended a few basketball games of cousins who live nearby and ate cupcakes my daughter has been making in her cake and cookie decorating class. I took the dog out for walks, shoveled snow, packed lunches, experimented with a few new dinner recipes, and tried to keep up with the dishes and dog fur. A highlight of the month was getting to watch my daughter play at an indoor softball tournament.

We did get to do a few things to get ready for our move this summer:
1. I ordered our seeds for our garden!
2. My daughter and I planted petunia and vinca seeds. We’ll start more in March.
3. I ordered a wardrobe for our bedroom.
4. I brought two boxes of books to our homeschool co-op’s free table. Two people shared at lunch the following week how they found a just right book that they passed on to others.

I think that is it besides a little planning!