Time.

Sitting in bed all day means that you have a lot of time.  Time to think. Pray. Laugh. Think some more. Go on Facebook. There are an endless number of opportunities.  When a dozen of my beautiful friends came to visit me in the hospital came to visit me last week, I asked them, "What would you do if you had 3 months to do whatever you wanted, and couldn't walk?"  The list that we came up with was super fun (but I can't find it!)

This week, I've been in think mode.  I tried to paint, but my water cup seems to go missing because I fall asleep while I'm in the middle of a stroke.  I tried reading, but I don't want to hear other people's stories of suffering just yet.  God has fixed my eyes upon Jesus, and I want to soak it up.  I don't want to be distracted.  So I've tried reading, but I can't get into the stories.  I've tried a Rubik's Cube, but I got frustrated.  So then I end up going on Facebook.  I'm trying not to be on there for more than an hour each day...so far...meh.  I'm there maybe 2.  All that to say that I need time to think & process what has happened to me.  This process of reflection is why I'm writing in my blog so much I think. 

This leads me to the art of stalking.  I could be a professional Facebook stalker.  I spent 30 minutes today just indulging myself in a good ol' trip around the book of Face.  You know what I found?

We are not long here.

Babies magically growing into toddlers, toddlers to big kids, big kids to teens, teens to adults...I've felt like an adult for a long time.  Ever since my friend Jenni C. from Faith Church said, "You are an adult!  I didn't recognize you with that purse on!" when I was like 17.  That was the moment that I grew up.  But to see so many babies holding their younger siblings that are babies because they themselves are no longer babies.  It was so surreal. 

My baby sisters turn 16 today.  Sixteen.  I can remember when they were born, and when my mom & dad brought them home from the hospital.  It was a hard season for my parents because they were premature, and my mom spent countless nights crying at the hospital because she wasn't sure Nat was going to live.  Jen & I weren't allowed to touch them until we took a shower, and man, that was the fastest shower of my life.  The babies were so warm and small.  Nat was "my" baby, and Mal was "Jen's" baby for a while.  And I just remember holding them.  I remember when we moved to Illinois and we had this baby cage blocking in our huge living room - it's where they learned to walk and run.  All four of us would all run around in the huge space.  Their hair smelled so good.  Jen and I would push them around in a laundry basket and they thought it was the coolest thing.  We'd play kitchen & house & build towers with legos.  With all the time in the world.

One of the things I'm most thankful for is the time that I get to spend with them in the next few months.  I know them, but I want to get to know them.  I'm so thankful for the time I've been given to spend with them & with my parents.

I BibleGatewayed the word "time" today, and do you know how many times the word "time" or "times" is said in the Bible?  888.  It's weird that it's that number, I don't know why, but it is.  888 times!  Time is important to God: how we see it, how we value it, how we share it, how we use it, and how we use it for him.  Time.

Hebrews 12:11
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.  (Be STILL!  And know that he is God!)

Time is a gift.  Everyone always says that, but how often do we act in response to that reality?  Time.  Is a gift.  From the Creator of the Universe; a limitless, undefinable, never-ending, never-beginning God.

Happy birthday Nat & Mal!  The gift of time is one that I hope that you remember to be thankful for every day!  Love you.