Wishing Away the Seasons

I pulled it from the dryer, sometimes I folded it, sometimes I just threw it under the sink. As I shook it out and began to fold it, I noticed the holes and unraveled edges.  I don’t know when it turned from a beach towel to a rag towel. But thinking back to the days when it was a beach towel made me wistful. I held it to my chest; it was still warm, and I wished it was a magic carpet.  I would fly back to an earlier time when it was still a beach towel used to gather up my shivering kids as they climbed out of the pool. Let me go back to hollering, “You got just five more minutes, and then it’s time to get out.” Things had to be done, supper had to be made, and I couldn’t just sit here all day and watch them!  If only I could go back to when the towel was new. I’d watch my children all day long. I’d bask in their laughter and even in their squabbling.  I’d fix their swim goggles again and again. Without sighing, I’d turn my head toward, “Mom, mom, mom, MOM…watch this!” And I’d even welcome that annoying pressure I felt when I thought I should be doing something other than sitting there with them on a summer afternoon. If I could go back in time, I would tell that feeling to back off, that my kids are small for a short time, and that they will need me like this for only a little while. Every bit of repetition, every story told, every hop, skip or jump I watched, every boo-boo kissed, every quarrel, every tantrum I endured was not just time spent but time invested. Every bit of that time was meaningful. But I didn’t realize how much.     Before, the towel was just a rag; it had been a beach towel doing what it was meant to do.

Do you struggle with your current season of life?  Do you wish for a magic carpet to whisk you back in time or fast-forward you to the future?  Being present where you are now can be difficult, but it can also be life-giving.  Often, we want what we don’t yet have or we long for what used to be.  It is easy to allow “the good old days” or “the grass is always greener” thoughts to start wrecking our peace.  (I’m not referring to times of crisis here; those times need more than a shift in perspective; they need care and healing.) But we can slow down and make the most of the days that we want to rush through.  You may wish life to hurry up and be different. Maybe you have been waiting for a spouse or children.  Or for your career to get going or retirement to come so you can slow down.  But discontent can climb up from our hearts and whisper into our ears, stealing our day and making us miserable. We don’t have to listen to discontentment we can tell God about it. We can tell Him that we want to trust His timing and plan and that we need help. Don’t let negativity steal your today. Some of our hardest “todays” are our most important ones.  Let’s not be fooled into thinking that our days are ordinary or unimportant. When we give our lives to Jesus, all our days are being used for His glory and to shape us for the opportunities tomorrow.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the seasons you have given to each of us.  Forgive us when we squander the day’s gifts and give us fresh eyes to see our blessings. Please give us the strength and the wisdom to do our best with what we have been given. We long for better lives because we know perfection exists, and until the day you set everything right, help us to be content, joyful, and life-giving to those around us.  Thank you that we can trust you for yesterday, today, and tomorrow. You are good, holy, and worthy of our thanksgiving and praise.  

Psalm 90:12 NIV “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

Psalm 139:16 NIV “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be”