I am a very sentimental person, therefore I am the type of person who is always trying to wring everything I can out of the past and present in order to feel some sense of control over time. You hear it said all your life: "Time goes by fast..." "Where did the time go?" But the truth is time has been marching on at a steady pace all along we just fail to realize it.
I am trying to learn to stop fighting time. Trying to fight time is like trying to catch the wind, it is impossible. I am learning to accept that fact and live in the present and enjoy each day as a gift rather than ruminating over things I really have no control over.
At church we have been teaching a series on parenting. http://novationchurch.org/media/
Last Sunday we talked about how God's priority in parenting is to gradually shift a child's dependence from their parents to God. Kids from the time they are born are longing to leave home and start a home of their own. What I am learning is it doesn't stop there. Raising kids is a temporary assignment. Sure I understand that being a parent is a life long relationship, but those years of gradually shifting kids dependence off of us to God are the years that seem to go by the quickest. Thus the sentimental feelings and longings for the days when they are little, cute, and dependent on us are what can bring pain and regret.
Why does this stir in us feelings of sentimentalism or anxiety or even regret? Because as great and rewarding as parenting is it is not the end. Watching our kids strive to leave home and make homes of their own is a huge reminder that we are all longing for our real home in eternity with God. The "empty nest" can really make some feel empty if they do not understand what we are all truly longing for.
I love how C.S. Lewis puts it: "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."
As great as marriage can be, as great as parenting is, as great as many things this life has to offer can be, none of them ultimately satisfy our deepest longings. Our deepest longings will not be satisfied until we cross over to the other side. The longings for yesterday or for our kids to be young again or for whatever you want to fill in the blank are all reminders that this is not heaven. We are not there yet.
Pray with me: Father, we recognize today the brevity of life. We recognize that we have so few days to live. Help us to live in such a way that we bring you glory by loving You with all we have and by loving others with all we have. Help us to recognize that the longings of our hearts are really pointing us to You. It is in you and you alone that our hearts find rest and peace. Thank you for the good gifts of life, but help us to remember that they are temporary. Help us to remember that we were created for eternity with You where our real home is and our hearts truly belong. Amen
