Living in Kingdom Time

By starting on Sunday, I obviously meant Wednesday :) Day 22 is about living in kingdom time. Last week, I received an answer to many prayers about finding a job in Charleston. I was offered a third grade teaching position at a school here...finally! It has been what feels like forever since I have been in the classroom and am so incredibly excited about this opportunity. After being a stay-at-home wife for the past 6 months, it is difficult to get back into the groove of spending 40 hours a week outside my house. I am used to getting up, drinking coffee, walking Raleigh on the beach, and then spending my day performing my wifely duties :) and having plenty of "me" time. I still felt busy keeping up with our tiny family that I wonder and fear how our lives will be different now. Welcome to the real world I guess.

Karen says it best "time...if only there were more of it. Or more energy to accomplish our goals in the time we do have. But wait! Do we want to keep falling prey to the tyranny of time management? Our culture is inundated with time management tools: date books, pocket calendars, wrist watches with built-in alarms, beepers for belt... and seminars on how to save, spend, invest, maximize, and catch time before it flies away!


What if time was not the fleeting, tyrannizing resource we are taught to believe it is? What if we chose instead to view time as an expression of God? God's speed. God's gift to us. A part of His very nature. Would we so anxiously live by deadlines, join the morning rat race, or grab a minute and run with it? Wouldn't we instead, be moved to rethink and perhaps reshape the way we use time? Perhaps our goal would be stewardship rather than management. Rather than accomplishing and accumulating according to some self-imposed deadline, we might share our time by serving others in Jesus' name."

Basically what I'm saying is that I feel I will now be challenged to invest my time not at work to eternal purposes. There will always be laundry to get done, a dishwasher to empty, closets to organize, a yard to tend to, but these things do not matter in the grand scheme of things. I fill a lot of my time with mindless chores like I just mentioned and what am I essentially gaining from that? Nothing other than a peace of mind and an impressed husband...if I'm lucky!:)

Let's respond to the call. Let's take the time and receive the grace to set our clocks and our calendars according to God's agenda and to reorder our lives around His values, His commandments, and His priorities. Let's learn his "timeless" management.

Today, I'm thankful for this sweet reminder to spend my time investing in eternal purposes. Makes me feel like I can breathe.

thankful

I think we need to rewind this blog and finish the 31 Day of Thankfulness before Thanksgiving in just two weeks...beings that there are 31 days, we'll start with Day 20 on Sunday and finish by Thanksgiving...here's a little something to be thankful for in the meantime. I stole it from another blog that I read this morning...

to trust

We have almost completed our 3rd month of living in Charleston and boy has it been an experience. We continue to be grateful for such an amazing city...the history, the beauty, & the friendly community. We do love this place. We both have always wanted to live in the south, experiencing the culture and taking in all of the differences that the north does not have to offer but I have to admit that this move has been harder on me(us) than we expected. Don't get me wrong, it has been an experience of a lifetime and I am glad that we took this chance. It has been exciting, fun, and sometimes a bit scary and lonely. I believe we are being challenged to trust in the Lord's plan for our lives because there is obviously a reason for our hearts to have been aligned to have the desire to move here. Our friend Lindsey from Seattle kept telling us "it's going to be so good for your marriage" and she is right. Matt and I are being forced to simply rely on prayer and one another...we have learned a lot about each other just in the last three months. Our first year of marriage was always so busy with Matt's job, my student teaching and wrapping up grad school, and our constant adventure. We had an amazing first year of marriage but when we landed in Charleston on Day 1 of Year 2, I felt like we were able to finally breathe and just enjoy one another.

Our times of loneliness are hard but a challenge that we will continue to grow through. It causes us to be even more grateful for the people that we love in Seattle and back home in Montana. I don't know what the next season in our lives will look like or how long we will live in South Carolina but I am content in knowing that His plan for us is perfect in every way.

Last night, we had the privilege of skyping with a couple that is being obedient to God's plan for their lives and they wanted to share with us what they are doing...if you are interested, read here. They are  turning their lives upside down for what they are being called to and it was such a reassurance of God's grace and peace for us. Thank you Megan & Chris (and sweet baby Siena) for being an incredible witness and a great reminder that this life is not about us.

I know it has been forever since I have written about my days of thankfulness (I really need to finish) but today, I am thankful for loneliness. I know that sounds strange but it is in these times that I grow the most and am reminded of what's important in life...not material items, money, a house, the perfect life, etc. but the people that we love the most and following a calling that is not of ourselves.