Time

Time has always seemed so strange to me. An hour in the dentist's chair can be agony, but an hour with friends can fly by. Here we're ten hours ahead of you. Nadeem jokingly said that we can tell you what will happen "today" because we've already experienced it. At home it's easier to mark the passage of time. We're active and purposeful, we watch the seasons change, and we have scheduled events and holidays. Here time does not seem to pass. The weather has been the same since we've arrived-hot. The outdoors looks the same. The days have the same basic routine. Nadeem and I have no scheduled events like we do at home. We do not work here, not even around the house. I hear about activites at home, and it sounds so strange, kind of foreign even-football games, plays, trips to the mountains, a talent show, playing tennis, getting ready for Thanksgiving. Our days seem to have no meaning here which leads to the question what matters? We think a lot about what our life will be like when we return to the US. Nadeem will go to work, I'll be at home as a mom, we'll visit loved ones, we'll pet our cats, we'll do fun activities, and so on. My friend Angela who posts our photos told me about the dash in your life-the line between the date of your birth and your death on your gravestone. That dash matters. How are you spending your time here on earth? I'm learning that God sees time so much more differently than we do. He's outside of our time. I've heard it described as though He's watching the parade of life from a hot air balloon. He sees it all. We, however, watch from the ground on the sidelines and see only what's in front of us. We don't have the big picture. Sitting here doing relatively nothing day after day seems meaningless to us. However, God is doing something in us while we're here. I do have a calendar with me, and I chart the days. Do you know where we see time pass? In Kalina! Our little girl is growing and changing. Today Nadeem and I picked her up and noticed how heavy she has become. I struggled to dress her in an outfit that hung off her a few weeks ago. We marvel over what she can do-sit up with our help, grasp toys, and make new sounds. She couldn't do any of this and then suddenly she could! Before our trip Nadeem prayed fervently one day. We were both worried about many things. The message God gave Nadeem was to go to Bangladesh to show Kalina His love and not to get distracted by anything else. While we're here we're "just" taking care of Kalina. Maybe that's the point! What's more important on this earth than love for God and love for others? Maybe at home we'd be too preoccupied to really love God and others. Today for the first time we woke up to cooler weather. Everything has a season and a time. Time does pass by. May we make the most of each day here and at home.