Time has always been something that is just so interesting to me. Sounds strange I know, But let me explain myself.
They say that patience is a virtue, but it is not a virtue that I possess. Patience is probably the greatest thing that I have struggled with my whole life. Every single day is a new challenge and test, and scarcely does a week go by when I don't have a huge, in my face lesson on patience. I've always said that Heavenly Father and I have such a humorous relationship and I think that His trials in patience that He gives me must be His entertainment for the week. I'm sure He gets a good laugh every now and then!
Growing up in the church, there was one common phrase that I heard quite often; in talks, the scriptures, all over. Although often phrased differently, the meaning was always the same. The Lord's time. In the time of the Lord.
We learn and know that the Lord's time is very different than our own. Not only by how He measures it, but also by how it passes. This has been the biggest struggle of my whole life.
Let me explain. In my classroom, we are currently working on teaching our second grade students about Stephen R. Covey's 7 Habits. One of the habits (the one we are currently focusing on RIGHT NOW) is to begin with the end in mind. When we put this into practice, we create goals, somewhere we want to end, and then we focus our actions onto achieving that goal.
So how does this fit into the the Lord's time? Heavenly Father already knows the end. He knows what we are going to go through and when we will stumble and fall. Because He already knows all of this, He knows exactly when to step in and help, when to give us some encouragement, and even when to take certain things away from us.
So this is where my struggle come into play. When I make a goal or decided I want something, I want it RIGHT NOW. Hello lack of patience. I have the hardest time waiting for things and I can't even begin to tell you how many nights I have spent on my knees pleading with Heavenly Father to give me something or to even take something away from me.
Fortunately, Heavenly Father knows me better and more intimately than I know myself, and He has my end in mind always. If any of you have seen me cry ever, you know how absolutely heartbreaking and ugly that experience is. I have no doubt that in those moments, when I am sobbing and crying out for help, Heavenly Father would like nothing more than to gather me into his arms, hold me tight, and tell me that everything is going to be okay, that in the end I will understand why He gives me the trials He does. But He doesn't, not only because I have my agency, but also because He always knows what is best for me.
Because Heavenly Father knows me so well, (and if I may go back to the humorous relationship that He and I share) likes to joke with me, He has made sure that EVERY single blessing that I have ever received in my entire life has included some form of my favorite phrase, According to the Lord's time. Apparently I need to be reminded that He is in control quite often.
While I never see it in the moment, when I actually take the time to stop and I am quiet, I can always see the purpose of why things come about exactly when they do. While I may not understand why I meet someone when I do or why someone is removed from my life when I don't want them to be, when I look back I can see why. Every single person who has walked into or out of my life did so at the exact moment that I needed them to. Certain people have walked into my life right before the storms hit, and they were the ones who had exactly what I needed to get me safely through the hard times in my life. Other people have left my life moments before things would have most likely taken me away from my goals, and although in the moment I hate to see them go, I have come to realize that this is Heavenly Fathers way of protecting me.
My life is full of examples of Heavenly Father giving me exactly what I need at exactly the right time. I can't tell you how many songs have begun to play, songs that sang the words I needed to hear when I needed to hear them. How many quotes I have stumbled upon that said the things I couldn't put into words. How many times someone has called at the exact moment that I needed to hear from them only to have them say the exact things I needed to hear. Even this particular blog post came about at the right moment it needed to. I had this topic planned months ago, but every time I sat down to write it, I couldn't even put one complete sentence together. Clearly I still needed to learn something about timing!
