Time: Looking Back and Looking Forward

Another year has come and gone.  Another chance for reflection on what has been and anticipation of what is to come. Time is a funny thing. We say we never have enough,  we use it as an excuse and yet we also recognize its value enough to read books on how to manage it.  Time is ironic.  It can stretch out every painful second of a tragedy,  bad experience, or dull meeting but then it will whiz by when you are visiting with long-distance friends, trying to accomplish everything on your to-do list,  or just taking a "short" nap.  And then you have God who is outside of time and that just blows your mind.

So how do we cope?  How do we maintain our sanity?  How do we find a balance? 

I think if we can learn to recognize each year, month, day,  hour,  minute, and second as a gift,  then we can begin to truly value and make the most of each moment. And I am totally preaching to myself here too!

I'm sure you've been asked the thought-provoking question,  "what would you do if you only had 1 day/week/month to live?  Tim McGraw even has a hit song about it. When we answer that question we never say worry, be jealous, argue, stress out, etc.  And yet, how many minutes, hours, and days do we spend engaged in those sinful wastes of time?  (again, preaching to myself here too!) I know some people (my husband and brother come to the top of the list) who are admirable role-models of what it means to live in the moment and focus on what's really important. I aspire (and quite often fail) to follow their example, but I'm not going to give up because 2014 is a new year, a new chance,  and a new gift of time. There will be wasted minutes and stress over such wasted minutes,  but every morning when I get out of bed, I receive another opportunity to live that day to its fullest potential. And as a wise teacher once said to a certain precocious red-head,  "every day is new, with no mistakes in it yet! "

So in looking back at some of the good times from 2013, I was reminded of big, small,  and even just-another-day occurrences. Here's a few highlights:

January--surviving teaching full-time Kindergarten (two half-day classes back-to-back)
February--signing the papers on Valentines Day to begin building our new home
March--home construction began
April--teaching 3rd and 4th grade math in the afternoons
May--spending a day sightseeing around eastern Washington with friends
June--moving into our new home
July--being a bridesmaid in my friend Jill's wedding
August--the Color Run with my family
September--starting a new school year at a new school and two new grades
October--coaching volleyball
November--a birthday weekend filled with fun activities
December--a quick weekend in Seattle to see all my girls

And with another year upon us, here are some of the good times I'm looking forward to:

January--Disneyland!!!  and the kick-off of Wyldlife
February--our new couch arriving
March--March Madness
April--a trip to Ireland
May--seeing my brother graduate from college and seeing Wicked
June--finishing my second year of teaching
July--being a bridesmaid in my friend (more like my sister) Abby's wedding
August-- being a bridesmaid in my friend Katie's wedding
September--new school supplies
October--hopefully coaching again
November--turning a quarter of a century
December--the Christmas season