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Time :: Stride

Time is a warped entity in grief and post trauma. 

Life is going to end soon. Much sooner than you realize. It happened to the person you love, so it will happen to you, too. 

There isn’t enough time to enjoy the things you want to enjoy. There isn’t enough time to appreciate the things you want to appreciate. There isn’t enough time to process, to make memories, to succeed, to change, to cherish, to slow down, to speed up, to remember, to move forward, to help, to stop, to wait, to listen, to become, to love. 

Time is a warped entity. 

And we have to put up with it no matter which way we go- whether we be optimistic, pessimistic, or realistic. 

Something I’ve been working on these past five years, with the excellent help of my counselor, is to “take life in stride” or “as it comes.” That is much much more complex in nature than those catchy phrases. Our human nature is at war with the fallen world; we are always grieving something, grasping for something, suffering from something. Taking life in stride does not equal confidently and effortlessly striding through chaos. 

Rather, taking life in stride means: staying in my own lane, not involving myself where I haven’t been invited, helping those who genuinely ask for help, taking care of my body, finding effective and appropriate ways to manage stress and anxiety, taking a step back from every situation in order to see the larger picture, choosing safe people to share my heart with, adjusting and readjusting to all the curve balls of God’s sovereignty, looking for the silver lining, not making a mountain out of a mole hill, seeing the good even in dire situations, praying in submission to an all knowing Lord, making the most of the opportunities that are in the now, praying for those who persecute me, choosing to love with proper boundaries, coming back to the Gospel at the beginning of every day and through every day and at the end of every day. 

So basically, taking life in stride looks like trekking through every terrain there is. And taking the time to process every step. 

Time may be warped. But time is an opportunity. And you and I have just enough allotted time, by God’s good grace, to process that. 

In the hands of the potter,

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