Recently, I found myself thinking about family and friends who have died in the past couple of years.  I remembered singular moments that made me smile…. a comment, a joke, a compliment, laughter, and even moments of tears.  I realized I had never considered at any point that I might not see them again in this life.  I childishly thought that I had unlimited time to know them and fully experience them.  I got comfortable putting off the opportunity to tell them how much they meant to me.  I squandered the time I could have told them how grateful I was for their presence in my life.  Yes, I can always tell them in spirit through the whispers of my heart, but I struggle to remember their faces now, their voices, the way they walked, or even what I loved most about them.  I am left with random singular moments that linger without context.  And with time, those memories will also pass away because memories are only accessible through the generosity of time.

As human beings, we are acutely aware of time…...we are constantly checking our phones, watches, or calendars.  We are constantly asking, “Are we there yet? .... Is it time yet? ......When will it be my turn?”  We need things done at specific times, we want moments we love to last forever, and difficult times to pass quickly.  We imagine that somehow, we have total control of our spiritual growth and journey by selecting specific ages when baptism should occur, or when we should receive our first communion, or get confirmed in the Church.  I have friends who feel that they have failed if they do not get married by a specific age or finish their degree after a specific number of years.  Some even say specific prayers for a special number of days with the hope that their requests will be answered at the end of those days…as if, we can make God do what we ask before it is time for such a request to manifest in our lives if it is meant to be so.  Regardless of what we do to control our lives and our environment, everything happens when it is time.  We will live, and we will die; we will have a lot, and we will lose a lot; we will be restrained, and we will be free.  All in good time……all in God’s time.

What would it be like to stop watching our clocks, to stop waiting, and to stop desperately needing to get ahead of ourselves?  What would it be like to just rest in the knowledge that because everything has its time, like the time chosen for Christ to suffer greatly for our sake, there will be a time for everything to be brought to light----a time when we will come to a realization that all that is meant to happen in our lives has its time and place.  When we rest in that knowledge, we become free from our worry, and then we have time to relish and take pleasure in the timelessness of God’s love for us.