Not Enough Time in the Day...

12 days. That's how long Jackman has been in the open air. 13 days ago, he was in his mother's womb. All it took to shake up both of our lives to their very foundation was for him to relocate to a more arid climate. I think I'm still in shock.

I've learned lots of lessons over the past 12 days; about life, love, and faith. Looking back, they are lessons I would have never learned any other way except through experience, and I am thankful for them. But there's one lesson that I feel like I'm still trying to figure out, and that's the whole time issue.

Now, most of my close friends who are reading this are probably laughing pretty hard right about now. One friend even said (before Jackman was born) that he couldn't wait to see the look of submission and resignation on my face two weeks in (and I thought he was being funny).

Everybody said our lives were never going to be the same. It's not that I didn't believe them, but how can you really know until you are living it. It's like this: If someone were to say to me "I am about to stomp on your foot as hard as I can", well I would know that it was about to hurt. I may even tense up and close my eyes in anticipation. But until I actually have the experience of having my foot stomped on, there's no way I could know what it would be like.

Well, since the day Jackman was born, things have been dramatically different, and in ways none of us ever imagined. We (meaning everybody) thought you just go to the hospital, come back home two days later with a baby, and spend who knows how long changing diapers and not sleeping. I felt like I was prepared for that scenario, and I was going to surprise everyone...guess who got surprised.

I've already been to Children's hospital over 20 times. All my plans, all my hobbies, and even a large portion of things I would consider necessities (which are not necessities anywhere else in the world besides the U.S.) are out the window. I think I actually uttered that ridiculous cliche, there's not enough time in the day.

Cliches are fun, but I have found that most of them don't jive with what the bible teaches. The cliche in question is a good example. There are more verses on the creation of time, the Fourth Day, than the rest of Creation. Don't believe me...check it for yourself.

That's enough for me to know that the length of a day is just right; so why does it seem like there isn't enough time in the day? Well, ironically, we are in too much of a hurry to finish the cliche truthfully. What we should be saying is: There's not enough time in the day to do what I want to do.

I'm learning that a good day isn't measured by how many things I accomplish to make myself happy. I've noticed that there have been a few days where I felt like I really did the things God wanted me to do, and I was at peace and able to sleep that night without worrying about the me-things I didn't get done. On the other hand, if I accomplished all my me-things and failed to do something that God set out for me to do, then I would have a very short lived and unsatisfying sense of accomplishment, accompanied by a condition that could only be called weariness.

The more I look at it, the more I realize God has given us the perfect amount of time in a day to suit us and Him. If there's not enough time, it's not God's fault. Example: Say my boss gives me 3 hours to build a space shuttle, but I spend 2 of those hours shopping for the perfect space suit. I'm the one who tried to cram too much into the schedule, not the boss. When it's all over, He ain't going to be happy, which means I ain't going to be happy.

God does not put us into any situation with a time handicap. He created time. Keep in mind, He even created a day for rest and made it holy. It's simply a matter of using His to-do list instead of our own.

I have just as much time as I ever did...just enough.