TIME'S LESSONS

Time has a way of teaching us perspective. The longer we live, the better we appreciate time's passage and its significance. And the closer I edge toward the end of my life, the more I appreciate and cherish the time I have with those I love.
At the same time, however, time also has taught me to be willing to wait for the best things in life and to never hurry through the great moments and experiences I get to have and to share. Time shows me that savoring these experiences when they happen helps me to retain the memories more vividly than when I let everything rush past me. Waiting and delaying gratification is part of this, helping to make the experience and the memories more vivid.
But that sometimes leaves me in a quandary. I know better than to push it, to rush things, to force something to happen, no matter how badly I want it (and I want it now!). Anything worthwhile, especially something like love, is worth whatever I have to wait. But at the same time, I know my days are numbered and the number grows smaller with each passing day, so I want to have as much time as possible with the one I love. How can I deal with these two opposing forces?
With silence. With peace. With prayer. With trust.
If I give up control to a higher authority, to the Creator, then I put all of my trust in Him, in His plan, in His will for me. If I allow Him to guide me by listening to His voice speaking to me -- through instinct, through gut feelings, through that inner voice -- then I will know when to run, and when to wait, when to act and when to react, when to be patient and when to make something happen.
This sounds easy, but it is not, certainly not for someone who has waited so very long for the right person to finally come along. I often feel as though I already have paid the price of admission, as it were, and cannot understand why I now must wait in this waiting room, biding my time for what I already know I want more than anything else in this life, or the next. And it can be difficult to still my mind, heart and soul, to block the aching of the heart and the longing of the soul for the love I know is out there, waiting for me, just so I can hear His voice speaking to me.
But, if I want the relationship to last and to be right and to be the way I ultimately want it to be, then I must do these things, must listen to Him speaking to me in the silences and recognize what He wants me to do. And I must be willing to let time pass, if necessary, and wait a little longer to be with the one I love for the rest of my, and our, lives.