Time…
It’s all about time. Sometimes it seems as though that’s all us Americans can ever talk about. We don’t have time, time is running out, now time is on our side, we’ve got all the time in the world, time is money, sometimes we even kill time. No matter what we do with it, whether we waste it or cherish it, we are obsessed with it. Time is a part of us, a part of who we are as Americans. It’s in the very language we use as we interact with each other everyday. Time is at the very core of all of our souls. It’s not good or bad, it just is. Time is whatever we make it.
If I could only pick one thing I learned in Jamaica it would be that time is important but not in the way I quickly realized I had spent my whole life making it out to be. The Jamaican people do not see time as a means to an end. Time is not money to them, time is relationship. Before I went to Jamaica, I saw time as a means to an end, I felt that I had to get everything done perfectly on time in order to succeed and move on to what God had for me. I expedited everything in such a way that sometimes I forgot to take the time to rest and build relationship, not only with other people but also with God. We had so much resting time during the trip and every second I spent without work left me feeling unproductive and anxious like I was wasting my time but I wasn’t because it was during those moments of discomfort that I grew the most.
For me, Jamaica was a time of rest and rehabilitation. A time to be away, unplug and disconnect from the noisiness and business that filled my life. It was a time to recover and heal from hurt. It was a time for me to be reminded of what was truly important and to rediscover what I love most. It was time for me to stop my working and worrying to do what I actually love to do and relearn how to enjoy the time God has given me on earth. All I had to do was exactly what I wanted to do and God used that to minister to the children of Jamaica so that they could go and open the doors for us to minister to their parents. It was a time to plant seeds for breakthroughs that will only come, you guessed it, with time. It was a time to send 3 special children on a mission to pass on the love they discovered God has for them. It was a time to encourage an elderly Christian woman as we visited her shop and listened to stories of all of her beloved grandchildren and great grandchildren. It was a time to simply love and leave my heartprint wherever God led me to be as I walked through a sandy beach, rocky road and muddy riverbank.
If I had not taken the extra time I didn’t realize I had to go and visit this country, God only knows the opportunities I would have missed to leave the unique heartprint He has given me in the mountains of Jamaica. As I sit here writing this in the Dominican Republic now, I pray God will show me the opportunities He has laid out for me to take the time to leave my heartprint here in the city of Santiago and wherever else I may go.
Time…
It’s all about time. What will you make of the time God has given you? Where will you take the time to stop, listen and leave the unique heartprint God has given you?
