Time in a bottle

I have been thinking about time a lot lately. Specifically how nice it is to have time. (I say this knowing that tomorrow is promised to no man, and God is in control, and my 'having time' could be an illusion!)

When the kids were little we struggled to have time to get anything done! The demands of a kindergarten student and 2 preschoolers 15 months apart were amazing. Hubby would come home from work and say what did you do today and I would be so upset because I could not point to one thing and say – that - but I was running non stop all day, I was doing something?! When they all got to school I went back to work, and now I was running to school, to work and then to their activities, now we were trying to get everything done! Of course during this period of time I had a whole list of things I had done and don't get me wrong I adored all the years, I loved the preschool years, I loved elementary and up. I cried happy tears at graduation and fearful/proud tears at enlistment, happy tears at the weddings and sad tears when we moved to a different state than the kids. They were some of the best years of my life.

Those years were so full of activities that there was very little time for 'taking the time', the garden was some tomatoes in containers, reading was a treat, sewing was limited to mending, 'scratch' cooking was a weekend treat (if there was no band competition, drumline competition, church activities or family outings) Somehow grandma's noodles never seemed to come out quite right for me, I went to the store and looked at things that I liked and said “oh I can't spend money on that because I can make that myself”, knowing in my heart I wouldn't do it, I just didn't have time. When we got ready to move from our home of 27 years I was mildly shocked and somewhat saddened by the boxes of kits, and patterns that I had purchased and not used!

Neither Hubby nor I ever thought we would retire this young, we thought we would work at least till our 60's because we wouldn't have enough money to do otherwise. The layoff was not unexpected, the permanence of it this time was, it became obvious the jobs weren't coming back. The economy crashed, the jobs were ended, the house was worth what we owed, the 401K was getting smaller! We were so fortunate! God truly is in control and we tend to forget that in the good times, he had a plan for us and this was what it took to get us into place.

So here we were, a small but adequate pension, enough left in the 401k to buy the fixer upper outright (with more property than we thought we could afford), the layoff came after enough years that our medical insurance is paid by the company (can you say incredible blessing?), and we just have to be frugal to survive!

Now I have time!

The noodles come out right when you take the two days to make and dry them properly, the garden is much bigger and will supply much of our produce for the summer and some canning for the winter months, those patterns are still good and the projects are things that we need and want around the house. The furniture we brought with us was the antiques, the recent purchases came from the thrift store and have all needed some work (cushions, legs, sanding etc), some of the work is done but the list is long! My sewing skills are better when I'm not in a hurry, cooking is more fun when it is not on the run! Our home is comfortable now, it is filling up with the things we like to do and have always wanted to do.

There is time for the Lord. Sometimes it seemed that Bible study and reading were luxuries. It is hard to read the Bible when there are constant interruptions and then late at night when the 'interruptions' were in bed I was so tired I could hardly concentrate. We took the kids to church and volunteered in AWANA, sang in the choir, volunteered for bake sales and went to retreats – in a rush. Today I did my devotion on the back porch, read in my Bible listening to the birds, and thought about how much I enjoy my time these days. I was reminded of Ecclesiastes 3, “To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” This then, for me, is the time to take my time, do it right, do it well and maybe pass some of it along. This is my season to enjoy a simpler existence, to reconnect with the Hubby.

Thank you Lord for this season!