Timing

Why is it that there are times in our lives where it seems like we can coast and still accomplish everything we ever dreamed, and other times when we are trying hard, only to end up feeling like a hamster on a wheel? Days go by, then weeks, then years, and we feel as though nothing has changed. Or we feel like everything has changed except us. I've realized in the past few weeks that feeling this way has a lot to do with timing. When a car's timing is off, it has less horsepower, a rough idle, and bad gas mileage. When a person tells a joke, it falls flat if it's not timed well. When you fail to time a baking experience, you could end up burning your house down.... Timing is profoundly important to the lives of human beings. And yet... and yet...

From Ecclesiastes, we know that there is a time for everything. Couldn't we also say that every moment in time has a purpose? If we feel like we are treading water, filling the sieve, or running on the hamster wheel of life, couldn't it be that we are simply treading in a calm eddy next to the raging current that would carry us downstream? Couldn't it be that we are filling the sieve with sand instead of nuggets of gold, having failed to recognize the gold for what it is? Is it possible that if we are running and never arriving, we are not in fact on a wheel, but we are running next to a long highway full of racing yellow taxi cabs, ready to take us wherever it is we are going? I feel as though sometimes my own thoughts and emotions are counterproductive to God's plan for my life, and in fact are often ultimately and in every eternal sense pointless. My own priorities, my own timing is faulty, and I'll never get it right. But if I'm focused on God, timing isn't really an issue, and I don't have to worry about missing the point, because He IS the point. So, I've been trying to wait, and to listen. What am I waiting for...?

Well... what are YOU waiting for?

Spring Break

I learned something this past week, and I hope I never forget it. Here it is:

True rest is like true freedom; it comes at the price of wisdom in choices and sacrifice.

How did I learn that, you ask? Well, this past week was my school's spring break, and I pretty much sat on my butt all week being lazy instead of grading and planning like a good teacher ought. Yes, I know that teachers deserve vacations, too, but trust me, this was not good. Not good at all. I'm going back to school more weary than I was when I started this week... Granted, I did accomplish some things; I sold a car and bought another, and I cleaned out my stuff in my parent's basement. I went for a kickin' bike ride, read 4 books, hung out with friends, cleaned my room, had lunch with my sister, baked a quiche, and sang in the worship band at church. Alright, alright... I changed my mind. It's been a good week, or at least not a total waste. Maybe it's time to stop thinking about all of the things that I could have gotten done, and focus on what did happen. Still, it makes me think. We really do have a lot of choices in life (especially concerning how we use our time, etc...), and we need to make them wisely.