The Clock

Time.  

At times it stands still, like a clock barely ticking as you hear each little tick... tock... of your watch.

At these moments I urge time to go faster, to get to the next moment, or day, or month.

Time.

At times it whizzes by like a flash before your eyes and the turning pages of a calendar.

At these moments I plead for time to slow down, to be able to take a breath and be present.

How does this constant thing that we call time seemingly go at different rates throughout our lives?

How can time both feel sluggish and speedy in the same moment?

By the constant measure of time I have been in Ecuador for 

5 weeks now... 

=35 days... 

=840 hours... 

=50,400 minutes... 

=3,024,000 seconds...

I feel as if yesterday I was walking off the plane into a whole new world full of mixed emotions.

Yet, at the same instant, I feel as if this is my new world and I have been here forever.

I know that my 7 remaining weeks here are going to both fly by faster than I can imagine and seem like an eternity.  

So in this moment, I take a breath.

Learning how to hold both my joy in my present place and my longings to be home is difficult.

My deep desire is to hold to both tightly but I know I must learn the appropriate grip to have on both.

It is in these moments that I know the one constant, far greater than our confines of time.

My Creator, my Father, my source of strength, identity, love.

It is He who I can cling to tighter than my present situations and tighter than my desires to be with friends, family, and the familiar.

It is He whom I desire to sit with in these moments outside of time.

I urge you to pause too.  

Take a breath. 

Sit in this moment with your Maker.  

Take in your surroundings.  

See His creation for you and give thanks.

Whether today you feel pulled in a million directions or you feel you have ample time to spare, soak this moment up.

~ Psalm 131

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up;

     my eyes are not raised too high;

I do not occupy  myself with things

     too great and too marvelous for me.

But I have calmed and quieted my soul,

     like a weaned child with its mother;

     like a weaned child is my soul within me.

O Israel, hope in the Lord

     from this time forth and forevermore.