Have you ever had told your kids you are going to be doing something really fun a few weeks or maybe months too soon?

If so you have been plagued with the constant questions:

“Is it time yet?”

“How many more days?”

“Are we there yet?”

My husband used to be in the military and we have many friends who are still in. When mom or dad goes away for a deployment the children are often left with this crazy timeline to wait for their return…6 months, one year, 18 months. These time frames seem almost like an eternity to a small child (even to an adult sometimes). When you are waiting for something exciting to happen the wait is so difficult.

I just went to Africa with my husband to meet the two newest children in our family. We had an amazing week with these two kids that now share our last name. We had to return home without them so that we can get their visas and passports and other special papers. As soon as those items are ready we will be on the next plane to pick them up and bring them home. Our new daughter is too young to understand the wait but our son articulates his frustration using very limited English. “Daddy, you come tomorrow?” “Daddy, you take me to America on Sunday?” “Daddy, you come in two weeks?”

No matter how many times we explain to him that the process takes time. No matter how many times we show him our passports and tell him this paper needs to come before we can bring him home. No matter how many days we show him on a calendar. He wants it to happen NOW. He doesn’t want to wait.  Quite frankly, neither do we. But here we are. Waiting. It will feel like an eternity but it will likely only be several months.

Now I consider that same time frame when you are waiting for something not so great. What if we had been told that I have a terminal diagnosis and I have 6 months, a year, 18 months? Oh, how we would cherish those days, minutes, moments! They would likely go by too quickly and we would want them to slow down. Through Inheritance of Hope I have had the privilege of knowing many young families who are facing those sorts of time lines. They are not ticking off the days on the calendar with expectation of what is to come. They are living in this day. They are making the most of this moment. They are cherishing the time they have together.

Isn’t that really how we all should be living? None of us are guaranteed tomorrow. I can spend the next few months dwelling on the fact that half of my kids are on another continent in an orphanage or I can celebrate their lives today, pray for their health and safety, and enjoy every moment with the other half of my kids that I have with me today.

Thankfully God’s timeline does not deal with days, weeks or months. He has an eternal timeline and He sees the big picture. We can trust Him with our time but none of us can see the future. So He has given us THIS DAY…let’s do this thing!