How to Slow Time

"My ageless purposes are set in Eternity Time.  Time is like a little wheel set within the big wheel of Eternity.  The little wheel turns swiftly and shall one day cease.  The big wheel turns not but goes straight forward.  Time is your responsibility- Eternity is Mine!  You will move into your place in the big wheel when the little wheel is left behind.  See that now you redeem the time, making use of it for the purposes of My eternal kingdom, thus investing it with something of the quality of the big wheel... Fill your days with light and love and testimony.  Glorify and honor My name.  Praise and delight yourself in the Lord.  So shall eternity inhabit your heart and you will deliver your soul from the bondage of time.  You will experience liberation from the pressures of time and in your own heart you will slow down the little wheel,  So will you find a new kind of rest..." -Francis J Roberts, Come Away My Beloved.

There is just one month until we get on a plane and fly to New Jersey.  The days are flying even without an airplane!  I just want to slow down time.  We will never pass this way again.  In the international community we must be acutely aware that there will never be this exact combination of people again.  Our WGM Team will look different when we return.  The Heritage International School staff will be different.  The kids in Caleb and Seth's classes will be different.  There may be some constants... but we can't count on them.  We can only count on Him.  He is the only One who doesn't change.  So, I don't want to toss these relationships to the wind and rush through the next four weeks.  I want to cherish every moment- capture each memory- embrace each emotion.

How do you slow time?

Giving thanks for one thousand things is ultimately an invitation to slow time down with weight of full attention. In this space of time and sphere, I am attentive, aware, accepting the whole of the moment, weighing it down with me all here.

-Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts

So, I'm trying.  Trying to receive each moment, each emotion, as it comes.  Weighing down each moment- the packing and the snuggling, the goodbyes and the sunshine- each moment with full attention and gratitude. 

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.  Satisfy us early with Your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days!  May the depth of my sorrow be the height of my joy- help me feel it all.  Let Your beauty be upon us and establish the work of our hands.  -prayer excerpt from Psalm 90:12-17

#7212.  coffee date with my man
#7213.  steam rising off my latte
#7214.  rising out of bed from an afternoon nap
#7215.  bubbles rising past his eyes!  he went under water at swim class!  firsts!
#7216.  really clean teeth. dentist here in Uganda. 
#7217.  how You meet me when I rise early. 
#7218.  sunshine. everyday. land of eternal summer
#7219.  popsicles after school. happy tradition.
#7220.  fresh melon juice.