By Katy Mariotti

The Agony of Time

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”
2 Peter 3:8-9 English Standard Version

I have been feeling very emotional about time this week. My son finished kindergarten, and this beautiful girl here turns nine today. As any parent will tell you, the time has flown by, and it seems impossible that they’ve gotten so big and just continue to get bigger. And yet at the same time, when I think of when my daughter was a baby, I think of how different our lives were then. How slow some of the days were, especially when she wouldn’t go to sleep, or when I had nothing to do but hand her the same toy over and over and over again. Time can be truly agonizing. It flies when we want it to slow down and it drags when we want it to pass faster.

It’s a source of comfort to me that God experiences time differently from us. As 2 Peter tells us, the Lord is patient with us. So maybe I can try to be patient as well. Scripture also says:

“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’– yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.'”
James 4:13-15 ESV

The important thing is to follow our Lord’s will, to trust Him, and to appreciate the gifts He has given us in this mist of life. It’s not always easy when times are busy or hard, but I want to try and appreciate all of the moments with my beautiful kids, and set my sights on the eternity promised to us!

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado