My office floods with early morning sunlight when the time “falls back” for the Autumn/Winter season. I lift the window just enough to feel a slight breeze and hear the morning song of the birds as it travels across the trees. The trees are now letting go of their leaves that once thrived during the summer season. It speaks to me, time will not delay.
Our lives move through these same seasons. There are days where the sun shines brightly yet seems to set quickly. There are days where darkness looms as it will never end. There are days of extreme light when joy is abundant and we celebrate victories.
I write a lot about time because it is the most valuable commodity in our lives. This little excerpt says it well: The concept of time is elusive because, well, it stands still for no man. It is the life currency that you can never regain after “spending” it. https://simplyshredded.com/the-currency-of-time-lifes-most-precious-commodity.html
I can feel the winds of change as surely as I feel the breeze moving through this room. It reminds me of the importance of “holding things loosely”.
I received the news a year ago in July that one of my best friends of 20 years had been killed in a car accident. I had just seen her a few weeks before as she was getting in her car to leave my house. She waved goodbye, flashed her beautiful smile, and blew me a kiss. She was one of the most talented vocalists I have ever heard in my life. We had plans to do her first recording in our studio the following August. How do we even consider holding these relationships loosely? Yet we must also hold the regrets of the past even more loosely. Neither of them is to be held as ours.
Her life and her early exit from this earth only made me question the element of time even more deeply. We did delay but time did not. We delayed in simply putting that date on the calendar to archive a voice that many of us now long to hear just once more. In the 20 years, she and I spent as friends and music partners – we could not find one recording of her to play at her funeral. Emotions sit right on the surface as I write this because the importance of the message burns with passion in my heart. Her death caused a paradigm shift in the atmosphere of my world. I HAD to move with the shift even though my heart wanted to sit down and find all the seemingly good reasons to quit.
The momentum of the world we live in today is like a raging river. It is fast and furious yet slow and attentive. How do we manage to catch the wave that catapults us to the changes we desire and sit on the beach and breathe in every single moment at the same time? Where is that perfect balance? Is it even possible? I look at the aging of my own body and retrace the footsteps of my life and think “oh how quickly things move.” Events like the death of a loved one can shake your world and bring up many questions. Questions that are worthy of an answer.
We must find resolve in our hearts to bring us to the point of stepping out on the limb of courage to face our fears and annihilate our own procrastination. Just do it even if you’re scared. Even if it’s not perfect. Death will be the final seed we are allowed to contribute but life offers a beautiful window of time. The seeds we have planted on our journey will someday be watered by other sojourners walking their road of destiny. May we learn to plant those seeds, enjoy the growth they give us, and walk on toward those things that await our arrival.
While my friend’s voice was put to rest that day, her daughter stepped into her mother’s legacy and blessed us all with a song. My friend didn’t get to do all that we had planned for her but nonetheless, those seeds from her gift are firmly planted on this earth and will grow no matter what. Just imagine what we can do by simply being a little more intentional with our time.
I leave you with this encouragement. Don’t let time slip away. Get up and look at the sunrise and announce to the world that YOU WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE today and every day hereafter. Hold loosely to those things which will inevitably change as time goes on. Love deeply and on purpose. Move with the changes in your life. Finally, make this holiday season so great that those close to you will forever hold it in their memory bank just like I hold the memory of my friend’s final wave, kiss, and unforgettable smile. I am here to tell you- IT IS WORTH IT!
Enjoy the Journey – VB
Truth through tears…….and the last paragraph was meant just for me. Like everyone else, this year has taken its’ toll. Mom left us to be home with Jesus in February, Daddy has become increasingly confused, one of my brother-in-laws was diagnosed in March with cancer, I had a massive heart attack on April 2nd–followed by a month-long bout with Covid in July. Once again, my Heavenly Father covered me with comfort, healing and grace. There are so many days that I ponder and yes, regret, the time that has slipped through my fingers. With the holidays upon me without mom (you understand, I know), I struggle with considering “the worth” of trying to “make a difference”. I long to be the “force” I once considered myself to be and today, sweet Messenger, I am reminded that God still cares and I CAN! With love-filled thanks! G
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