Redeeming the Time

I just finished a book called ‘A Fall Of Marigolds’ by Susan Meissner. 

It was really good. I would give it a 9 out of 10, but I do like melancholy types of books.  I don’t want to give anything away but it was a story about a scarf that connected 2 peoples live together a hundred years apart and their remarkable stories.  Anyway it made me think about time and how it perpetually goes on and on and on.  Even though I don’t live here in all the infinite minutes that are given to us, they are still there turning. It also made me think about the fact that,  things I do today can impact lives tomorrow. The  fact that we do make an impression on this world and it can be a good impression or a bad one.

I have four children that my husband and I have raised.  They have all graduated from college and now are all married.  They have started families, new jobs and a circle of people that surrounds them as well. The children that my husband and I created will now go on and also impact the world around them.  So in that way I will be impacting the future as well.  Did I teach them about forgiveness, grace, mercy? Did I tell them that not all people were raised the way you were and do not hold the same values as you and that is okay?

The older I get the more I think about these things.  I can never get back the time we had together all those years. That is 10 years from my oldest to my youngest child, those precious years that we are supposed to be teaching them so many things.  Time is something we can not get back.  I can never recover yesterday.  Believe me I have wished that I was Superman before and could fly out over the earth and push time back.  I remember Superman doing that one time. I have even prayed that God would do that before. I know He could. I have also prayed that something I am going through could just be a dream and that God would either take it away or redeem it.

What does it mean to redeem the time?  Can I do that?  I believe that there are somethings we can do to leave a lasting impression. One that can even change the world. Sometimes it is just a matter of being honest with someone. Telling someone honestly that you have been hurt by them and offering them forgiveness. You don’t even have to tell them you forgive them, but you can release from within yourself that grudge or pain you have been carrying around. Saying it outloud and letting feelings of hurt and pain go into the wind.  Not because anyone asked you to but because it has been a stone tied around your neck too long. It maybe a parent, a child, a coworker or even a classmate that needs those words. Those words can change the path of a person’ life. Maybe it is yourself you need to forgive.

Something else we can do that may change the course of time is offer kindness to a person that does not really deserve it. The people that often deserve thoughtfulness the least are very close to us and that makes it even harder.  I watched the movie ‘I Can Only Imagine’ last week and it also has a thread of forgiveness in it. We clearly can not always recover the pain, hurt and agony that has been given to us over the years. Those times can not be recovered, but we can make something beautiful out of something ugly.

Just try it, no harm is done if you let something or someone go, let them off the hook, as some people say.  They don’t even have to know about it. Just let them off, forgive them, offer kindness.  See if it makes you feel different about the time. If you want to recover the time from yesterday and make a difference in today it is one simple thing you can do. I know it will change the course of a day for you and it is yet to be seen what it can do for the other person.  Redeem the Time,  Honestly,  Janet