Some moments in our lives are time-released. As we go through them, their significance seems minor. Or perhaps they are painful and appear altogether meaningless. But as months and years separate us from these events, the memories begin to open up and divulge a wealth of insight we never imagined existed.
I’ve been contemplating the time-released moments quite a bit. At times, I get the feeling that I’m living one of those moments… that something going on in my life has so much more meaning than I can readily absorb in the now. I’m hiking on apparently dry, desert ground… but somewhere beneath lies an underground stream of the coolest, cleanest life-giving water. But even when I try to force myself to dig below the surface, the ground doesn’t give. It’s as if this mystery stubbornly faces me off with, “I won’t give it up until the fullness of time.” So I relinquish. But somewhere in my heart remains the seed-thought that this moment will come alive to me… sometime in the future.
One of my dear friends is preparing to begin an overseas missions term and we had a talk about the time-released moments in her own life. She says she can see so many little, insignificant things that now make up her recipe for success. These include camping with her family, growing up in a culture where adventure and determination were high values, and even some painful mistakes and consequences which refined her.
I suppose that’s one of the reasons that pacing your life is so important. If we periodically take time to look back and reflect, we can enjoy the brilliant fibers woven through the tapestry of our lives. We can see that someone actually knew what he was doing when he saw the big-picture and called it good.
On the other hand, if we never slow down to consider things, we may miss the beauty and only ever see the frustration of the moments of the now.
As for me, I’ll choose to let myself believe… that perhaps the things I’m going through, for all their monotony and pain, might just have a greater significance than I think.
