When my children were younger I read them a story about a little boy named Peter who was given a magic silver ball. From this silver ball there dangled a silken golden thread and if he pulled the thread he could make time go faster. However, he was warned that once the thread had been pulled out it could not be pushed back in. Once the tread was pulled out the time would disappear like a puff of smoke.
I am in a place in life where I am very aware how quickly time passes. In my memory I can trace the different seasons of my life. I see the pictures of years gone by. I treasure now the very moments I would have missed if I had been able to simply pull the thread. I imagine piles of delicate silken tread that represent the golden memories I would have missed.
I am also aware that for those who are in a different season of life there is a since of impatience a longing to move on to the next stage of life. I remember impatiently waiting for what would come next. When I was finally old enough to go to college I could hardly wait to be married. When my husband was in seminary I daydreamed about when he would have a church. Then I waited to have children but that wasn't enough. Next, I just wanted to sleep through the night undisturbed. If I had had the magic thread I would have been yanking on that thing all the time!
There is a gift that God has given but I think it is a gift that no one really wants. It is the gift of patience. This is the gift He offers me instead of a magic thread. Because there is no magic thread to pull to make the unpleasant boring times go by faster God invites me to learn to accept the bad with the good.
Lord, as I sit sorting through my memories I thank You for the things you taught me while I was waiting for life to really begin.
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