Time is the enemy.
Not because we don’t have enough of it. Not because it passes faster and faster. Not because it’s slippery and elusive.
Rather, because time is an illusion.
I was in such a hurry to be published. It felt like I was wasting valuable time waiting for an agent, an editor, a publisher, a book on the shelf . . . The way I saw it, the sooner the first book was in print, the sooner the next, and the next, and so on.
Because a book in print and in readers hands is the end point–the culmination of my journey.
Except . . . my journey continues. Turns out reaching a goal simply offers a clearer view of the next mountaintop in the range. It’s like our hike last Saturday. We knew we wanted to reach a certain rock outcropping high on the mountain. And we did. But the trail actually continued beyond that point. There’s always more.
I think we’re often fooled by this notion that we’re trying to cross a finish line somewhere up ahead. And once we do, we’ll be . . . finished. Except there’s no such thing as finished while we’re still breathing.
Remember the last time you couldn’t wait for something? Christmas, your birthday, your wedding, the birth of your first child, the first day of school for your last child, vacation, retirement . . . The one thing all the moments we look forward to have in common is that eventually they come . . . and then they go.
And then there’s something else looming up ahead. Some other destination we’re waiting to reach.
Our Bible study group is reading a book by musician Laura Story called, “When God Doesn’t Fix It.” Last week we talked about how the most valuable lessons don’t necessarily come when the hard thing we’re struggling with is over. The value is often in the journey, which rarely unfolds the way we’d like.
So if they journey’s the point–there’s no need to be in a hurry. No need to chase madly after the goal. The lessons will come along the way and if I don’t get where I think I need to go? Well, as a believer, I know I have all of eternity–where there’s no such thing as time and nothing is wasted.
