I've been thinking a lot about "time" lately, and always the same cliches come to mind..."Time flies"..."Make the most of your time"..."Time is of the essence"...or my personal favorite, "Time is precious, use it wisely" There hasn't been a moment in my life where these cliches have been more true.
The count down has started. Its official, this is our last month here in Nigeria and I can now say that by this time next month I will be most likely at my sister's house or Erica's spending time with my little loved ones and hopefully eating a big fat bean and cheese burrito (yes, that's right...its the simple pleasures in life)
We've got 22 days left here in Jikwoyi, Abuja, and right now I'm sitting in the darkness of the night on our back porch listening to dogs bark and the goats chomp on grass, slapping the mosquitoes from my flesh and looking up at the stars. Its crazy to think that the stars I'm staring at right now are not the same stars that your eyes back in the States see. The sky is so vast and so enormous and Ive been blessed to say that my eyes have seen the San Diego stars and the Nigerian stars. How beautiful these Nigerian stars are...don't worry, they look just like every other star in the sky, but I think they might be brighter, the sky is clearer here. Or maybe I just love them because as I sit here and dwell on where I am going to be in 23 days from now, I know a part of my heart is going to be left here under these Nigerian stars.
Time is a crazy paradox to me, we can never have enough of it and yet we waste it all the time.
At the beginning of this trip, 5 months seemed like so much time. The plans we had and the longing to see our loved ones, 5 months seemed like a life time, but now I can honestly tell you 5 months is not enough time. There is so much still I want to do here in Jikwoyi, there isn't enough time to see all the people I want to see and there isn't enough time to do all the ministry I long to do. There is still so much work to be done here and I know that us being here has planted seeds and that in some crazy way we have been blessed and honored to work along side the Lord in serving the people of Abuja, but I believe the work here isn't done.
My prayer during this trip has been that I wouldn't waste a single moment and now more than ever I feel this burden to truly have my eyes and heart opened fully so that I may embrace all that God has for me here. I want to have full confidence that our time here was used to the fullest.
I will write again soon...at least one more time before I leave this home of mine, here in Nigeria.
But I wanted to encourage those that are reading this, don't waste your time and go about life thinking that you have all the time in the world to do whatever you'd like. I know its cliche, but I started the beginning of this blog with cliches and so Ill end with them as well (that my OCD) But seriously, as I sit here and think about how I wish I could stretch 22 days into years, souly because I don't want to say Good-Bye and because I know that its only by God's grace and His will that I will come back here again, I mean it when I say...don't take your time for granted.
Where ever you are, whether in America or some far off place...its all the same. Time is valuable and when it starts running out it creeps up on you and its gone before you know it. Take time to enjoy where you're at where ever you are. Smile with people, help a stranger, play with your kids...there is so much you can do with your time...its precious...USE IT WISELY!!!
Until next time...
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